Eastern Illinois split its first two games of the ULM Warhawk Invitational on Friday as the Panthers beat Stephen F. Austin 4-3 in the opening game before an extra inning 6-5 loss to Houston Christian.
 
EIU 4, SFA 3
Eastern Illinois built an early 3-0 lead against Stepen F. Austin before needing to rally to score the game winning run during  a 4-3 win over the Lumberjacks.

After EIU built a 3-0 lead over the opening four innings, SFA was able to tie the game with three runs in the top of the fifth.

EIU responded during its half of the fifth as Briana Gonzalez delivered a two out hit that scored Karson Davey with the winning run.  Davey reached on a fielders choice and moved to third on a single by Sophie Cerveny.

The Panthers took advantage of two SFA errors to score two runs in the second and pushed their lead out to 3-0 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Marybeth Dyson that scored Gonzalez.

SFA took advantage of an EIU error in the fifth as they evened the game at 3-3.  Ellie Vance had the lone RBI of the inning for SFA.

McKenzie Oslanzi (2-4) pitched into the sixth to pick up the win while Karlie McKenzie threw 1.1 innings of shutout relief for the save.  Gonzalez and Alisha Frederick each had two hits for EIU.

SFA (4-8) was led by Vance with two hits.  Jordan Ages took the loss falling to 1-2 on the season.
 
HCU 6, EIU 5 (8 inn.)
In the second game of the day Eastern Illinois again jumped out to an early lead but this time could not hold off a rally as Houston Christian scored three in the seventh to tie the game before beating the Panthers 6-5 in eight innings.

EIU opened the game with three runs in the first as Abbi Hatton delivered a two-run double to left center.  HCU cut into the EIU lead with a single run in the fourth on an infield RBI single by Hanna York.

Kendall Grover pushed the Panthers lead out to 5-1 in the fifth as she hit her second home run of the season with a two-run shot to left center.  Grover was 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the game.

HCU chipped away at the lead with a single run in the sixth before tying the game with three runs in the seventh.  Haylie Savage had a three-run home run for the Huskies to tie the game.

In the eighth EIU would put runners at second and third with two outs but could not get the big hit.  HCU took advantage of a two-out error in their half of the eighth to collect the win.

Bryanna French took the loss in relief falling to 1-2 on the year as EIU is now 4-8.

HCU improved to 3-6 with Cara Pittman (1-0) picking up the win.  York was the lone HCU with multiple hits going 2-for-3.

Hatton joined Grover as EIU players with two hits going 2-for-4.