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BATON ROUGE, La. – Eastern Illinois softball exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh to pick up a 10-4 win over Jackson State in their third game of the Mardi Gras Classic.

Lindy Milkowski had the big hit to open the inning with her second home run of the game as she was 2-for-3.  Aniya Holt and Aryn Henke both had big hits at the bottom of the order with Henke's double driving in a run.  Henke was 2-for-2. 

The top of the EIU order then put together three consecutive hits with Morgan Lewis driving in two runs and Briana Gonzalez one.  Jaylen Prichard capped the top three in the order with her second hit of the game.

Alexa Rehmeier came in and pitched 5.1 innings of relief to improve to 2-1 on the season.  She allowed one run in the sixth which tied the game at 4-4 while striking out six.

JSU had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the game before EIU rallied with two in the third and two in the fourth.    

Game 2: EIU 7, Grambling 3

Eastern Illinois added three home runs to its season total as the Panthers beat Grambling State 7-3 on Saturday evening to improve to 4-0 in this weekend's Mardi Gras Classic.

Lindy Milkowski connected for a three-run homer in the first to push the Panthers out to a 3-0 lead.  It was Milkowski's third home run of the day.

Grambling cut the margin down to one run with a pair of runs in the second. Katelynn Walls had the big hit in the inning for the Tigers as she was 2-for-3 on the day, the only player on either team to record multiple hits.

Rachel Kaufman (1-1) would enter in relief in the bottom of the fourth and then helped her own cause at the plate in the fifth with a solo home run.  Kaufman tossed 3.2 innings allowing one earned run for the win.

After the Tigers again trimmed the lead to one run with an RBI single in the fifth by Nyah Jones, Kaufman drove in her second run of the game in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.   EIU tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh to improve to 4-5 on the season.  Aniya Holt had a solo home run and Jaylen Prichard an RBI single. 

EIU wraps up play in the Mardi Gras Classic against Grambling at 10 am on Sunday morning.