Thanks to two great pitching performances, the last-place Mississippi Braves are suddenly one of the Southern League’s hottest teams.

Brett Oberholtzer threw seven shutout innings, and the M-Braves blanked the Jacksonville Suns for the second straight game, 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Trustmark Park.

It was the fourth win in five games for the M-Braves (16-21). In their last four victories, the M-Braves have allowed a total of two runs, and their pitchers have not allowed a run in 20 innings.

Oberholtzer (3-3) followed up Randall Delgado’s Saturday night shutout with a strong outing of his own. The left-hander allowed four hits and one walk while striking out six. Yeliar Castro pitched a perfect eighth inning and Billy Bullock finished up in the ninth for his third save of the season.

Suns starter Omar Poveda (1-3) only allowed five hits in six innings, but took the loss. He walked three batters and struck out two. Reliever Jahn Marinez also walked four batters, and two of the seven free passes led to runs.

The M-Braves took the lead f with two runs in the second inning. Donell Linares led off with a single, and two walks loaded the bases. Poveda got Marcus Lemon to hit into a double play, but Linares scored the game’s first run. Oberholtzer then helped his own cause with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

In the eighth inning, Antoan Richardson walked — the first of three for the M-Braves in the inning — and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.

The five-game series continues tonight at 7:05 at Trustmark Park. Paul Clemens (3-0, 1.90 ERA) will try to continue the M-Braves’ recent pitching dominance when he takes the mound against Jacksonville left-hander Brad Hand.