The Mules took care of business Tuesday then got some good news from Sikeston to claim the regular-season SEMO Conference title.
Matt Lambert hit a first-inning home run and had two doubles as Poplar Bluff beat New Madrid County Central 7-4 at Bobby Strenfel Field.
The Mules (14-5) ended conference play 6-1 but needed Sikeston to hold off Notre Dame 5-4 to claim the title.
It was quite a Senior Day for Poplar Bluff, which started nine seniors.
"It was nice to see all the seniors on the field at one time," Mules coach Steven Edwards said.
Leading by six runs after two innings, Poplar Bluff fans turned to Twitter for updates from Sikeston, which used a five-run fourth inning to break a scoreless tie.
"I told my coaches and every time I walked to third base (to coach), the fans were trying to tell me (the score)," Edwards said. "I don't want to know. Ultimately we had to take care of our end of the deal. We can only control what we can do."
After the Mules did their part, Notre Dame rallied.
The Bulldogs, who beat the Mules 4-2 on April 10, scored twice in the sixth and two more in the seventh with the tying run on third base before a flyout ended it.
Sikeston, Notre Dame and Jackson each finished 5-2 in conference play as the Mules won the regular-season title for the second straight year.
Seedings for the conference tournament will be released later Wednesday. The Mules are the two-time defending champions and will host a quarterfinal Friday.
"All the teams have that one guy that can go out on the bump and win a game," Edwards said. "You got to go into every game with the mentality of one game at a time."
Lambert lifted the Mules with a two-run homer in the first inning before three errors and a walk led to three more runs and a 5-0 lead. The senior took an 0-2 curveball over the left-field fence for his fourth career homer.
"Kept his weight back and jumped on it, had a good hit there, did outstanding at the plate," Edwards said of Lambert, now hitting .419 this season.
Joe Darlin and Michael Anagnostopoulos, who is hitting .426, provided RBI hits in the second inning for a 7-1 lead.
Tanner Tibbs allowed one unearned run in four innings for the win, improving the senior to a career 12-3 record with an ERA of 1.80.
Darlin tossed two innings of relief, picking up his 55th career strikeout to end Central's three-run sixth with a runner at third.
Jared Moses played in his 89th career game and has 82 runs scored as a .291 hitter. Ronin Rice, hitting .370 this year while going 4-1 with a 1.47 ERA on the mound, scored after reaching on an error while Tyson Tibbs walked and scored while Kolby Bess, a first-year senior playing his first game, reached on an error that allowed two runs to score in the first inning.
Trevor Fredwell scored in his second game back from an injury. A .336 career hitter in 47 games coming into his senior year, Fredwell worked his way back from a knee injury suffered during the soccer season. Anagnostopoulos, who missed his senior year of soccer with a knee injury, has four homers and is hitting a team-best .426 with 16 RBIs.
"These guys have busted their butt and worked their tail off to get where we are now," Edwards said.
After starting 1-4, the Mules have won 13 of 14 and carry a four-game win streak into the conference tournament.
Poplar Bluff won the junior varsity game 17-0.