EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—The University of Southern Indiana saw a pair of leads fall by the wayside as No. 14 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville swept a GLVC doubleheader from the Screaming Eagles Sunday afternoon.

USI (18-14, 5-3 GLVC) saw a 3-1 lead evaporate in game one as the Cougars battled back with three unanswered runs to grab a 4-3 victory. The Screaming Eagles led 4-1 after two innings of game two, but the Cougars plated five tallies in the bottom of the third inning and two more in the sixth frame to complete the two-game sweep with an 8-4 win.

Sophomore designated player Sara Loete (Pekin, Illinois) provided the Eagles' offense in game one with a three-run double in the fifth inning. SIU Edwardsville, however, used a three-run home run from third baseman Lauren Zumbruski in the bottom half of the inning to reclaim its one-run advantage it had heading into the fifth frame.

Senior hurler Amy Harrison (Graceville, Florida) was charged with the loss after giving four runs off five hits in four-and-a-third innings of work. Harrison falls to 9-8 with the decision.

In game two, the Eagles grabbed a 1-0 lead when freshman third baseman Brittany DeWeese (Evansville, Indiana) hit a one-out, run-scoring single to centerfield in the top of the first inning.

After SIU Edwardsville (25-7, 5-3 GLVC) tied the game in the bottom of the first, junior rightfielder Lacey Ligmanowski (Homer Glen, Illinois) hit an RBI single through the right side of the infield to put the Eagles up 2-1. Ligmanowski, along with senior leftfielder Kathy Wood (Lynnville, Indiana), came around to score two batters later when senior third baseman/pitcher Kristin Eickholt (Van Wert, Ohio) singled to right-centerfield.

The Cougars, however, sent nine players to the plate in the third inning as they scored five runs and took a 6-4 lead heading into the final four innings. SIU Edwardsville tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning on the strength of a two-run homer run by leftfielder Nicole Beecher.

After racking up seven hits in the first two innings, the Eagles' offense cooled off as they were held to just four hits in the final five innings.

Eickholt (1-3) took the loss after giving up the go-ahead run in the third inning. She came on in relief of junior pitcher Stephanie Schneider (Birdseye, Indiana), who gave up four runs off five hits over two-and-two-thirds innings of work in her first start in more than two weeks.

USI returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Rockhurst University in a 1 p.m. GLVC doubleheader at the USI Softball Field. The Eagles also host Bellarmine University Saturday and Northern Kentucky University Sunday. Both GLVC doubleheaders are slated for noon starts.

Notes: Sophomore designated player Sara Loete has a team-high 35 RBIs on the season, 15 shy of Pat Snell's single-season school-record of 50, which she set in the 1978 season…senior leftfielder Kathy Wood went 3-for-4 from the plate with a double in the second game. Wood has hit safely in a team-best 11 straight games and has is hitting .595 during that span.