MT. CARMEL, Ill. -- The Wabash Valley baseball team clinched no worse than a tie for its' third straight Great Rivers Athletic Conference championship with a doubleheader sweep over Southeastern on Saturday at Fournier Field. 

The 15-1 and 7-5 victories by the second-ranked Warriors vaulted them to 21-2 in the GRAC race. They have a four-game lead (on the loss side) over second-place Southwestern and John A. Logan with four games remaining. 

Now 43-9 overall, Aaron Biddle's club has won 17 games in a row. Meanwhile, Southeastern fell to 20-27 and 5-22 with the losses. 

"Two big conference wins," said Biddle after the games. "They are all important, we're getting down to the nitty-gritty." 

While the first game lasted only seven innings because of the 10-run rule, the nitecap came down to the wire. Biddle had to call on proven reliever Sam Mettert to get the final out with two men on base and the lead-run at the plate for the Falcons, who had already scored three times in the top of the seventh inning to close to within 7-5. 

"That happens. We gave some guys who haven't had a lot of opportunities some opportunities. We just could not close it out," Biddle said. "We used a couple extra bullpen guys than I would have liked, but a win is a win." 

In the first game, Wabash Valley scored three times in the first before erupting for 10 runs in the third to put the game out of reach. And, while starter Agnel Miranda clicked right along on the hill towards his team-best eighth win of the season, Nicklas Williams put up some big numbers at the plate to make life easier. 

Williams was 2-for-3 at the dish with one home run and five runs batted in, hiking his team-leading totals to 10 and 71, respectively. His .455 batting average is now ninth-best in NJCAA Division I, and his RBI count stands eleventh. 

"It was a big emphasis for me to try and be the backbone of this team, but not to force things," said Williams, a sophomore from Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin. "I just want to do everything I can for this team, whether it's quality at bats, or making a play in the field, or switching positions after each game. Just do whatever I can to help the team win." 

Williams is second on the team in hitting to Richard Bonomolo, Jr.'s .477 mark. Those two have gone back and forth at the top of the team leaderboard, which has produced a friendly but beneficial rivalry of sorts. 

"It's kind of funny, because (Bonomolo) and I talk a lot. We are really close," Williams said. "We bounce things off each other all the time. We're constantly talking about hitting and how we can make each other better. He is my brother. We know where we are in the lineup (Bonomolo bats second, Williams third). We have to set the tone for our team." 

For the record, Bonomolo is now fourth in the country in hitting. 

Michael Lareau and Landen Johnson both hit two-run homers. Lareau ended up with three RBIs, while Jorge Rodriguez joined Johnson with two. 

In the second game, WVC scored one run in the first, then added four more in the second for a quick 5-0 lead. The Warriors added a single tally in the fourth before Southeastern hit the scoreboard with two runs in the fifth to make it 6-2. 

Mack Mitchell hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot to lead off the Warrior fifth, to make it 7-2.  

Bruce Jellison finished 3-for-3 at the plate, while Williams, Rodriguez and Lareau each had two hits. It was Lareau who had the biggest RBI haul of the finale with four. 

Louis Phillipe Langevin got the start and worked four strong innings, allowing just one hit while striking out seven batters. He got the win and is now 5-1.  

Aidan Deakins, Charez Butcher, Manuel De Gracia, and Mettert also saw action on the mound for the winners. 

WVC can wrap up the outright league championship with either a win on Monday at Olney Central (29-20, 10-13), or one more loss by Southwestern (38-11, 19-6) and 20th-ranked John A. Logan (33-14, 15-6). 

The GRAC crown is the 17th in program history and is the second-highest total by sport at the school, behind only the 25 league titles won by the Lady Warrior softball team. 

Overall, Wabash Valley has now claimed 70 GRAC crowns, by far the most of any school in the loop. 

UPDATE: Wabash Valley could move into the No. 1 spot in the next NJCAA Division I baseball poll, to be released on Monday. While the Warriors finished a perfect 3-0 in the past week, No. 1 Central Florida (46-6) lost twice last week to No. 10 Santa Fe, Florida.