WISE - - The win streak now stands at seven for UVa-Wise's baseball team after a doubleheader sweep of Urbana University Sunday afternoon. The Highland Cavaliers used solid pitching from sophomore RJ Vanvickle and a three-run homer by redshirt senior Brett Yates to win the opener 4-1 before using six pitchers to claim a 4-2 win in the finale. With the sweep, Hank Banner's club moves into sole possession of first place in the Mountain East Conference South Division with a 7-1 league mark.

UVa-Wise (13-12, 7-1 MEC) found itself behind early in game one as Urbana (2-16, 0-8 MEC) jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Briley Harlan RBI single in the top of the second inning.

It would be the start of a day of near misses for the Blue Knights. After stranding a man in the first inning, Urbana left two more in the second as Vanvickle allowed just one run on four hits in the frame. The right-hander used a caught stealing and a two-out pop up to work out of trouble.

The visitors would strand at least one runner in every inning but the fifth of game one, including two runners in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh innings. Combined, Blue Knight hitters left 10 men on base as the team was unable to capitalize on 10 hits and two Cavalier errors.

The Cavs did all of their damage in the third inning as Ethan Fletcher doubled to begin the inning before later scoring on an RBI single by Brock Smith. After a Tyler Blaum base hit put runners on first-and-third with two away, Yates lined his third homer of the year, a three-run blast to make it a 4-1 game.

Urbana received back-to-back two out hits in the fourth before Griffin Stevens flied out to Fletcher on a 3-2 pitch ending the threat. In the sixth, the Blue Knights put the first two men on and had the bases loaded with just one out, forcing Vanvickle from the contest.

Right-handed reliever Tyler Hayes then came out of the bullpen and induced a ground ball back to the mound where he fired home to Blaum for the first out before the catcher unleashed a rocket to Smith at first base for the inning ending double play.

In the seventh, Urbana would again have the first two men reach only to see Hayes get three consecutive fly ball outs to end the contest.

Vanvickle improved to 3-2 on the year as he scattered nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. The sophomore struck out two and walked one in his 94-pitch effort.

Hayes earned the second save of his collegiate career as he allowed just one base hit in 1 2/3 innings of work.

The Cavs were limited to six hits in the game, Blaum finished 2-for-3 to be the only UVa-Wise player with multiple hits in the win.

Taylor Lane, Brett Bell, Harlan and Tyler Dellerman had two hits each in the loss.

Logan Fisher dropped to 0-3 on the year as he allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings of action.

Game two saw Banner's club fall behind for a fourth consecutive game as Chase Carney and Robbie Guerrero hit back-to-back solo homers in the top of the first to stake the Blue Knights to a 2-0 lead.

It would be the only runs the visitors would score in the game as once again it would be a game of near misses for Urbana.

Leading 2-0, the guests saw the first two hitters in the second inning reach base off sophomore reliever Jimmy Vanosdale only to see the righty work out of the jam with a double play and a fly ball to left.

After UVa-Wise cut the lead to one on a RBI single by Yates in the third, Urbana had a chance to get the run back in the fourth with two men on and one out in the fourth. Again, Vanosdale worked out of trouble as consecutive ground outs ended the threat.

In the fifth, the Blue Knights missed their best chance of the day when freshman reliever Devan Mathis came on with the bases loaded to face Dellerman. Dellerman hit a sharp ground ball down the third base line only to see Cavalier third baseman Tristan Peccerelli spear the grounder and win a foot race with Lane to the third base bag to record the force out and end the frame.

The missed opportunity proved to be costly as UVa-Wise took advantage of three Urbana errors to take the lead for good in the fifth. Blaum and Yates reached on back-to-back miscues to begin the frame before a failed pickoff attempt sent Blaum to third. Following a ground ball double play off the bat of David Thomas to score Blaum and tie the game, four consecutive hitters would reach as Fletcher and Jordon Turner provided RBI hits to give their club a 4-2 advantage.

In the sixth, Urbana threatened once more as Michael Losey walked to lead off the frame and moved to third on a base hit by Justin Donovan. From there, reliever Dylan Luttrell went to work as he struck out back-to-back hitters before getting Stevens to ground to Bret Roberts at second base to end the inning.

The seventh inning saw Fletcher move from left field to the mound as he worked a perfect inning to garner his first collegiate save and give UVa-Wise its longest winning streak as a NCAA Division II member.

Blaum picked up two of the Cavs' six hits while senior utility man Cal Bailey caught the second game and walked three times while scoring a run.

Mathis (2-0) picked up his second win in as many days in relief by not allowing a run in 1/3 of an inning.

Guerrero (0-1) was the tough luck loser for Urbana, the right-hander was charged with two unearned runs in an inning of work.

The sweep completes a perfect weekend for UVa-Wise, the team swept Notre Dame College on Saturday, and moves the Cavs over the .500 mark for the first time this season. Since starting the year 0-8, Banner's team has won 13-of-17 games to stand at 13-12 at the halfway point of the year.

Next up, UVa-Wise will hit the road to take on Fairmont State and Shepherd University next weekend for a quartet of MEC games.