The UNA baseball team extended their winning streak to six games with a sweep of Gulf South Conference opponent Valdosta State this past weekend on the road.

The No. 18 Lions continued their hot streak, picking up a big series sweep against Valdosta State, which puts the Lions second in the South Region with a 21-7 overall and 6-2 conference record and winners of eight of their last nine games.

“We pitched really well, played sound defense in late innings and that is a good ingredient for success,” said head coach Mike Keehn. “We did really well hitting the ball with runners in scoring position this weekend.”

The Lions pitching staff was outstanding in the series, as they only used one relief pitcher in the entire series. The starting rotation had two complete games and was one out away in game three to having a third complete game for the entire weekend.

“Anytime you are one out away from three complete games for an entire weekend it is phenomenal, and it could not have happened at a better time with our depth in the bullpen pushed back a little bit,” said assistant head coach Matt Hancock.

In game one Trey Mitchell (6-1) pitched his fourth complete game of the season, allowing eight hits and six strikeouts. Mitchell has allowed only nine earned runs in 51 2/3 innings of work this season.

The offense applied plenty of run support for Mitchell, scoring 10 runs, which was more than enough as the Lions took a 10-0 victory in game one. The Lions got multi-hits from Michael Schmidt, Blake Stroth, Jake Sloan, Dale Ricketts, Josh Carpenter and Nick McGregor, with 15 hits total.

In game two the Lions were in a tight game with VSU, but Johnny Hornbuckle (4-2) was up to the challenge to get his first complete game in seven starts, allowing seven hits and striking out five in the 5-3 victory.

“He has been getting into trouble after the fifth inning lately, and it was good to see him bear down,” Hancock said. “It seemed like his stuff got better after the fifth inning, which was good to see.”

The Lions got solo home runs from Jared Mothershed in the second inning and later from Schmidt in the fifth inning. VSU tied the game in the third at 2-2, but the Lions picked up three more runs in the next three innings and Hornbuckle closed it out for the win.

In game three Chad Boughner (4-1) was one out away from picking up three consecutive complete games for the Lions, but got into trouble in the seventh inning before getting pulled. Boughner allowed four runs off six hits with three strikeouts in the 14-4 victory.

The game marked the 11th time this season that the Lions had 10 runs or more and the eighth time with a win over 10 runs. J.P LaMunyon and Ricketts led the team with three hits apiece, and the team had 12 for the game.

The Lions will have the biggest test of the season, as No. 4 West Florida will come to UNA with the winner sliding into the No. 1 spot in the South Region.

“It should be a really exciting weekend against a very good team, but we are up to the challenge, and hopefully we will play really well against the most complete team in our conference,” Keehn said.

The Lions will play a double-header starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and a game on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.