KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Thanks to stellar pitching and plenty of run support, the Truman State University softball team picked up its third sweep of the season, this time over MIAA foe, Lincoln. The Bulldogs improved to 5-1 at home after scores of 8-1 and 6-1, the first of which gave head coach, Erin Brown, 300 Truman wins. Only one other coach in program history has more than 150 (Tarry Parrish - 154) and Brown is responsible for nearly 30 percent of the school's all-time victories.

Truman (11-7) has now won four of its last five games while Lincoln (3-21) has yet to win a true road game in seven tries. Wednesday, the Bulldogs hit .368 (21-for-57) as a team, eight different players registered multiple hits and three of those eight recorded three hits apiece including Morgan McMahan, Ashley Murphy and Brooke VunCannon.

In game one, Truman put four runs up on the scoreboard before Lincoln could get one in. Michaela Mooney got it started with a solo shot to left in the second for her first home run of the season and second of her career. One inning later, Alyssa Rivera crushed a two-run blast down the left field line and Riley Cook singled in McMahan to make it 4-0.

After the Blue Tigers scored their one run in the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs piled on in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the fourth, Rivera scored Murphy, in the fifth, VunCannon brought in Cook, and in the sixth, McMahan obliterated a ball to center field for a two-run home run.

Alyssa Hajduk (8-1) got the start and went five innings while allowing just one earned run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. That effort lowered her season ERA to a team-leading 2.33. In relief, Nicolette Simpson tossed two shutout innings and gave up just one hit while facing just one batter above the minimum.

In game two, it was much of the same for the hosts as they once again scored four runs before their visitors crossed the dish. McMahan opened the scoring in the second when she came in on a wild pitch before Truman scored three more in the fourth. Cook's fielder's choice sacrifice bunt scored McMahan, Cook later scored during a rundown between first and second, and Reisinger hit a line drive home run to right. After Lincoln's run in the fifth, VunCannon made it 6-1 with a two-run double to right center.

Lauren Dale (2-5) must have had somewhere to be after the game, because she went the distance and used just 64 pitches to do so, 53 of which were strikes. Dale needed just an hour and 10 minutes to pick up her fifth complete game of the year with not a single walk and three strikeouts.

Next up, Truman will host Missouri S&T on Saturday for a doubleheader set to begin at 12 p.m. at Truman Softball Park.

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