NEW ALBANY, Miss. - Dan Creighton bounced back from a rough outing to win a pitchers' duel before the Lions used another big first inning to complete a three-game sweep of Blue Mountain (Miss.) College on Saturday afternoon.

The wins helped the Lions (34-6-1, 5-1) stay 2.5 games behind Bethel (Tenn.) University, who remained unbeaten in conference play after a three-game sweep of Mid-Continent (Ky.) this weekend.

Creighton (7-0) was back to form after allowing a season-high six runs last weekend, shutting down the Toppers on seven hits in tossing his fourth complete game of the season.

BMC took the early lead with its lone run coming in the first inning. Garrett Ferguson tied the game leading off the top of the second with a solo homerun, his sixth of the year, and Bobby Seda drove in the go-ahead run one inning later with a two-out double. Joe Mike was cut down at the plate trying to score from first on the play, but that didn't come back to haunt FHU.

Creighton worked out of a pair of jams in the fourth and sixth innings, stranding two Toppers each time.

In the finale, Freed-Hardeman tried to repeat its first-inning outburst from yesterday when it scored 10 times before BMC came to the plate. Today, the Lions crossed the plate six times in the first giving starter Ryan Wood plenty to work with.

FHU scored two more in the third before blowing the game open in the sixth scoring seven times. Ferguson and Kyle Dearing both had two-run doubles in the sixth.

Wood improved to 5-1 on the season with the win, allowing three runs - one earned - in sixth innings of work while fanning six. Mark Malone allowed one run on one hit as he pitched in relief in the seventh.

Justin Mackey had two hits in both ends of the double-header, extending his hitting streak to 14 games. Mike and Ferguson each had two hits in game one, while Seda and Jake Todd had two hits in game two. Lincoln Lakoff was also a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate in the finale.

The No. 18 Lions host No. 12 Cumberland (Tenn.) University on Sunday at 12:30.