EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE softball gained a short-game win early Tuesday over Eastern Illinois, but the Panthers avoided the sweep in game two at Cougar Field.

SIUE, 5-15 overall and 5-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference, won game one 15-1 in five innings while EIU topped the Cougars in the nightcap 8-5.

Sydney Baalman earned the victory in game one for SIUE and is now 2-4. She allowed three hits and struck out two.

"Sydney is a workhorse for us," said SIUE Head Coach Jessica Jones. "She shut the door in that first game, and she came back in relief and tried to shut the door for us in the second game."

Alana Cobb-Adams set the tone early for the Cougars. She laced the ball down the left field line and tripled to start the game. She would easily score on a Lexi King single to center field. Amber Storer made it a three-run start to the game with a double to the gap in left center that would score Zoe Schafer and King.

The SIUE offense came alive in game two with a 12-run fourth inning. Seventeen batters went to the plate in the inning.

Nine different players would collect an RBI in the game for SIUE. Bailley Concatto and Amber Storer each had three RBIs. Grace Bretveld recorded her first career RBI, effectively drawing a bases-loaded walk.

EIU, now 16-8 overall and 9-4 in the OVC, would jump ahead in game two 7-0 before SIUE scored its first runs.

Concatto restarted the offense in the fifth with a two-RBI double that scored Alana Cobb-Adams and Ava Bieneman.

In the sixth, Micah Arps singled home Kylie Lane with a blistering shot off EIU starter's Olivia Price's leg. Price would stay in the game, but the Cougars tagged her for three runs in the inning, including an RBI single by Rachel Quaritsch and a sacrifice fly by Bieneman.

"In game one our defense was stellar, and our offense was here all day. Unfortunately, we had some lulls in our defense, and defense wins championships so that cost us," said Jones.

EIU added a single run in the top of the seventh.

SIUE had two runners on base in the seventh and the tying run at the plate, but Price prevailed for her sixth win of the season.

"We pushed back at the end," said Jones. "I proud of their fight. However, we need to make sure we're going on all cylinders for all seven innings."

The Cougars now look to start the month of April right. SIUE entertains UT Martin for a single game Friday at 4 p.m. and a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.