MOBILE, Ala. ? Middle Tennessee starter Kenneth Roberts did not allow a hit until the fifth inning as the Blue Raiders knocked off the University of South Alabama 14-1 Saturday at Stanky Field.

The loss snapped USA’s (21-21, 9-11 SBC) overall winning streak at six and its conference winning streak at five straight.

Middle Tennessee (29-12, 17-6 SBC) took advantage of a pair of USA errors to plate eight unearned runs in the first four innings.

“We’ve won eight of the last 10, so that’s a good sign, but we can’t let this game effect us,” head coach Steve Kittrell said. “We’ve got to show up tomorrow and flush this, get it out of our system and realize that we’ve been playing good baseball.”

Nathan Hines hit a three-run homer with two outs in the first inning after an error kept the inning going, and Bryce Brentz hit a three-run double in the fourth after the inning was kept alive by another error and a wild pitch following a strikeout.

Nathaniel Lami’s one-out single in the fifth ended Roberts’ no-hit bid, but the Jags would manage only five more hits the rest of the way. Roberts got the win after allowing only an unearned run in 8.0 innings of work.

Jag starting pitcher Matt Jackson (3-3) took the loss after allowing nine runs, only one of which was earned, in 4.0 innings. Phillip Byrd, Michael Raia and Chris LaGrow allowed five runs over the final five innings, but USA didn’t plate a run until the eighth inning.

Zach Grichor reached on an infield single leading off the eighth, then two batters later Brad Hook reached on another infield single. Brandon Brown loaded the bases with a single through the left side, and Lami reached on an error that allowed the Jags to score their lone run of the day.

The inning ended when Derek O'Reilly’s liner was stabbed by shortstop Tyler Burnett, and Roberts handed the ball to Marshall Mears, who worked a perfect ninth to complete the win and even the series at 1-1.

Sunday’s rubber game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Brandon Sage is expected to start for the Jags, while Middle Tennessee sends right-hander Chad Edwards to the mound. The Jags will be looking for their third consecutive series victory after beating Arkansas-Little Rock two weeks ago and sweeping Louisiana-Lafayette last weekend.

Notes:  Derek O'Reilly singled in the seventh inning to tie his career-long hitting streak at nine straight. He has hit safely in 18 of the last 19 and has reached base safely in 21 consecutive games ... David Doss drew a pair of walks to extended his streak of games reaching base safely to a season-best 15 straight, while Ryan Bohanan saw his similar streak snapped at 18 games when he left with an injury in the seventh inning ... USA now leads the all-time series against Middle Tennessee 33-15, including a 21-9 mark at Stanky Field.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).