Dwight Dasher threw two touchdowns and rushed for two more as Middle Tennessee stretched its winning streak to seven games by beating Southern Mississippi, 42-32, last night in the New Orleans Bowl.

Dasher completed 15 of 25 for 162 yards and ran for 201 yards to give him 1,175 on the season.

Middle Tennessee (10-3), playing in the second bowl game in school history, concluded its best campaign since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1999.

Southern Miss (7-6) was playing in its eighth straight bowl game, the 12th in the last 13 seasons. The Golden Eagles had won their three previous New Orleans Bowls.

Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher ran for 78 yards to become the ninth player in major college football to reach 1,000 yards in all four seasons.

BASEBALL

A'S CLOSE ON CRISP

The Oakland Athletics were closing in on a deal yesterday with free-agent outfielder Coco Crisp on a one-year contract with a club option for the 2011 season.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed an impending deal on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement had not been made by the club. That could come soon.

Crisp, 30, underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in June. He batted .228 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in only 49 games last season for the Kansas City Royals, who last month declined their $8 million option to bring Crisp back in 2010.

SKIING

VONN PLACES THIRD

Franzi Aufdenblatten posted her first World Cup victory in leading a 1-2 Swiss finish in a super-G, and Lindsey Vonn placed third to take sole possession of the lead in the overall standings.

The 28-year-old Aufdenblatten finished in 1 minute, 26.43 seconds yesterday on the Oreiller-Killy course, 0.23 seconds ahead of Nadia Styger at Val d'Isere, France. Aufdenblatten's previous best World Cup result was the third place she twice took in downhills.

Vonn finished 0.26 seconds back. She has 581 points in the overall World Cup standings to lead Maria Riesch by 50 points.

Marie Marchand-Arvier, the super-G silver medalist at the world championships earlier this year, crashed out and was evacuated off the slope on a sleigh.

GOLF

RAMSAY TRIUMPHS

Richie Ramsay of Scotland birdied the first hole of a playoff to defeat Shiv Kapur of India and win the South African Open yesterday at Paarl, South Africa.

Ramsay shot a 7-under 65 to move past overnight leader Pablo Martin of Spain, who shot a 73 at Jack Nicklaus-designed Pearl Valley. Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Anders Hansen of Denmark was a shot back in third after a 69.

Kapur finished with a 67 in the event sanctioned by the European and Sunshine tours.

Ramsay had a putt on No. 18 to win the championship, but it went just left, forcing the playoff.

Kapur had to lay up in the playoff, also on No. 18, while Ramsay reached the green in two and his 15-foot eagle putt came up just short, enabling him to tap in.

MOLINARIS IN MASTERS

Francesco and Edoardo Molinari of Italy will finish the year in the top 50 in the world and become the first set of brothers in 10 years to compete in the same Masters.

The Masters invites the top 50 in the final world ranking of the year, which was finalized yesterday after the South African Open, the last official tournament of 2009.

Franceso Molinari will finish at No. 38, while Edoardo Molinari will be No. 48. The World Cup winners in China last month, they will be the first brothers at Augusta National since Jumbo and Joe Ozaki in 2000.

Also qualifying is Michael Sim of Australia, who won three times on the Nationwide Tour and won its money title.

Ben Curtis will finish at No. 50 by one-thousandth of a point over Ryan Moore, who already is eligible from winning a PGA Tour event.

BIATHLON

AMERICAN IN LEAD

Tim Burke has become the first American to lead the biathlon World Cup standings following a sixth-place finish in a 12.5-kilometer pursuit race at Pokljuka, Slovenia.

Evgeny Ustyugov of Russia won yesterday's race, beating Roland Lessing of Austria by 9.3 seconds.

Burke was 37.4 seconds behind Ustyugov, but moved from second to first in the standings. He has 253 points to lead Simon Fourcade of France by seven points.

Burke, of Lake Placid, N.Y., said yesterday during a conference call that he's excited and "it has not quite hit me yet." The 27-year-old credits years of biathlon experience and a team effort for his breakthrough in a sport dominated by Europeans.