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CINCINNATI - The Miami University baseball team slugged its way past Xavier, 12-6, Wednesday to capture the program's first-ever title at the Joe Nuxhall Classic. The victory also extended the team's unbeaten streak to seven games.

The Red & White (15-23) jumped on Xavier early with a three-spot in the top of the first. Tyler Harris led off by striking out but reached on a wild pitch before Adam Yacek got on with an infield single. After two outs, Landon Stephens ripped a double to left, scoring both Harris and Yacek. Cal Elvers followed with a single to left center, plating Stephens and moving Miami out to a 3-0 lead. The Musketeers got one back in the home half of the inning on a bases-loaded hit by pitch. After just an inning of play, the score stood at 3-1 in favor of the RedHawks.

Xavier (21-17) took its first lead of the afternoon in the second, striking on a pair of RBI singles and taking advantage of a Miami throwing error for another tally. The three-run frame had the Musketeers out in front, 4-3, through two innings of action.

Miami quickly got things evened back up when Ross Haffey led off the third with a solo shot to left, his seventh home run of 2017.

The Red & White got the advantage back in the fourth with some small ball. Spencer Dull drew a walk to start things off and was subsequently bunted over to second by Carlos Texidor. A Dallas Hall single to left put runners on the corners for Harris, who put down a safety squeeze to bring in Dull and hand the `Hawks a 5-4 edge.

Xavier tied the game again by drawing a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth.

The stalemate was short-lived though as Miami fired back with a five-run top of the sixth. Texidor (single), Hall (double) and Harris (single) all reached to load the bases before a Yacek infield single and a throwing error on the play scored two. Another Musketeer miscue, this time a wild pitch, allowed Harris to score. Then, a two-run shot by Haffey, his second of the game, capped the frame's scoring and had the RedHawks out in front, 10-5.

Miami cushioned its margin in the eighth with a single tally courtesy of a Stephens RBI single. Haffey got on with a one-out hit by pitch before getting to third on a Grant Hartwig single. Stephens followed with the base knock that widened the RedHawk lead to 11-5. The Musketeers got the run back in their half of the inning, plating one on an RBI double.

The Red & White tacked on one more for good measure in the away half of the ninth when Dull took home on a wild pitch.

Andy Almquist, tossing 2.1 innings in relief, picked up the win and moved to 2-2 on the year while XU's Taylor Williams took the loss and dropped to 2-2. Overall, the Miami bullpen had a strong outing as they combined to give up just two runs in seven innings of work.

At the conclusion of the contest, the RedHawks were honored with the tournament trophy and Haffey was tabbed the tournament's most valuable player after going 2-for-3 with two home runs, three runs batted in and three runs scored in the championship game.

Miami makes its return to conference play this weekend when it heads to Ohio for a three-game series against the Bobcats. The weekend set gets underway Friday at 6 p.m.