EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE softball ventured back into nonconference play Wednesday with a pair of contests at Cougar Field, dropping the doubleheader 2-0 and 8-4.

"No. 1 we need to keep moving forward," said SIUE Head Coach Ben Sorden. "Today was not our day defensively. We had a number of miscues. We need to keep working on cleaning up our defense."

SIUE, 9-14, return to Cougar Field this weekend for a three-game, Ohio Valley Conference series against Southeast Missouri. The series begins Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

The Cougars were outhit 5-4 in game one. One of those hits came from Paige Rocha, who extended her hitting streak to 16 games,

Camryn Stickel, who had a save in game two, was the game one winner. Emma Anderson had the loss for the Cougars.

SIUE doubled its hit total in game two, led by two hits from Lauren Yslava. She blasted a triple in the fifth inning that put SIUE within two runs.

Emma Henderson and Anna Henderson each had pinch hits for the Cougars in game two.

"We're swinging it pretty well," said Sorden. "A number of times the ball was hit hard and just right at people."

Sydney Baalman, who fanned five batters, took the loss in game two.

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel," said Sorden. "I saw a number of great plays we were able to make. It's just we haven't been able to do it consistently over the last two weeks."