Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Marisa Dowling followed up her solid performance during opening day with another strong afternoon, going 3-for-4 in Colgate's two games.
 
The Raiders fell to Eastern Illinois, twice, on Saturday, dropping a 5-0 decision in the first game before falling in extra innings during the second game, 6-5.
 
"We came out flat in the first game and struggled to put the ball in play and generate some offense," Colgate head coach Melissa Finley said. "We made some good adjustments from yesterday and were defensively stronger, however."
 
"In our second game didn't take full advantage of the opportunities we had to win but we showed a lot of heart and came back with a late game rally. It is games like this that will make us stronger in the long run and we are learning a lot along the way."
 
In the opening game, Colgate saw the Panthers score five runs in two innings to record the shutout. But the Raiders we not kept scoreless in the second game, notching five runs, thanks to hits by Tara Grennan, Dowling and Gillian Murray. Unfortunately, Colgate wasn't able to finish off the late come back as Eastern Illinois tallied the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
 
Colgate (0-4, 0-0 PL) saw Dowling recorded a run and two RBI to go along with her three hits on the afternoon. Murray went 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI in the two games, while senior Haley Fleming added a hit and two runs during her one game of action.
 
Eastern Illinois (12-6, 0-0) saw Bailey O'Dell and April Markowski go 4-for-6 and 3-for-5 on the day, respectively.
 
After the Panthers had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth in game one, the Raiders tried to answer with a one-out single from Dowling to right center. Colgate left her stranded, however, ending any hopes of cutting into the Panthers lead.
 
Again in the bottom of the sixth, Colgate had a runner in scoring position when Katie Bushee doubled to left field. Eastern Illinois forced the Raiders to pop out and fly out, though, to again strand the base runner and escape out of the inning without conceding a run.
 
The Panthers added three more runs in the top of the seventh and despite having a chance to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning, the Raiders were not able to tally the needed runs to close the deficit.
 
In the second game, Fleming earned a one-out walk in the top of the first to get the Raiders on base. Dowling followed that up with a single to center field, advancing Fleming to second. On the ensuing play Eileen Ornousky grounded out to advance the runners into scoring position before Grennan singled to bring them home for the 2-0 Raider edge.
 
The Panthers knotted the score at 2-all in the bottom of the second before taking the two-run lead after a homerun in the bottom half of the third.
 
Colgate answered the call to pull within one following a Dowling double in the top of the fifth. The Raiders used back-to-back doubles from Fleming and Dowling to make for an exciting final few innings.
 
In the top of the seventh, Jennifer Martin got things started when she singled down the left field line. On the next at bat Alex Gadiano earned a walk to shift Murray to second. Murray had come in to pinch run for Martin. Murray and Gadiano advanced bases when Fleming notched a walk. Dowling brought Murray home with a bunt to pull the score even.
 
The Raiders were able to hold off any Panthers attempts in the bottom half of the inning to send the game into extra innings.
 
Both teams recorded runs in the eighth but one final run from Eastern Illinois in the bottom of the ninth gave the Panthers the victory.
 
Megan Carnase pitched all seven innings for the Raiders in the first game, allowing nine hits and five runs while Murray earned the start in game two, going three innings giving up six hits and four runs. Brigit Ieuter came in for relief in game two allowing five hits and two runs during her 5.2 innings of work.
 
The Raiders are back in action Sunday in the consolation game against host Charleston Southern at 1 p.m.
 
"We are going to focus on playing good softball tomorrow on both offense and defense," Finley added. "We will try to put it all together and walking away feeling good heading into next week."