It has been five years since the Miles baseball team has won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title but this year's Golden Bears have definite designs on joining that group with its own championship hardware.

Sunday afternoon, Miles scored 10 runs in the first inning en route to a 16-4 win over Lane at historic Rickwood Field. The victory gave the Golden Bears (15-9, 8-1 SIAC West) a sweep of the three-game weekend series and marked the squad's 10th consecutive victory, the team's longest win streak since that 2017 championship season. Senior Matthew McDonald (1-0) earned his first win in more than two years in a game that was shortened to seven innings by the 10-run rule.

Miles put the contest to bed on the very first pitch of the game from Lane starter Cullen Odom as Eli Snelson deposited it over the wall in left field to put the Golden Bears on the board. Snelson would also score the last run of the inning when he scored on a sacrifice fly from James Bitner. But in between, Miles worked through two additional Dragons hurlers as they built the insurmountable advantage.

After Miles loaded the bases with no outs, Lane went to the bullpen. Jermyn Brock proceeded to walk Michael Archie and Max Davenport in succession, followed by a run-scoring single by William Johnson for a 4-0 lead. If there was any doubt that the Golden Bears had seized control of the game at that point, they were quickly put to bed when Clifton Orr belted a grand slam to center field that traveled well over 400 feet to extend the advantage to 8-0. 

In all, the first 11 Golden Bears reached base as Peyton Caron would double, Snelson would lay down a bunt single and Kody Long drove in Caron. The offense continued to pile up runs in the second as Orr and Long drove in runs and Bitner added a two-run single for a 14-0 advantage.

With the game well in hand, Miles was able to get multiple reserves into the contest and provided an opportunity for senior Cameron Holmes to get two at-bats against his brother, Lane sophomore Jaylen Holmes. Jaylen won the first battle, getting Cameron to line out to short but big brother got even with a single to right in the sixth. On the afternoon, Miles had 17 hits, with five different players enjoying multi-hit efforts.

The Golden Bears are back in action next weekend when they host Benedict in a three-game series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon with a single contest on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.