HICKORY, N.C. – The Augusta University softball team played Lenoir-Rhyne for the third and fourth times of the season on Wednesday and dropped two close non-conference games 3-2 and 4-2 at Bears Field.
Augusta (5-23) had a last-inning rally in game one and took the first lead of game two against LRU (23-2), but couldn't pull it off on the road. The Bears are on a 17 game win streak.
Morgan Hunter (2-6) made her seventh start for the Jags in game one and held the Bears to three runs on 12 hits, while striking out one.
The Bears booked two runs in the second inning on a sacrifice fly and Sydney Landreth's double to score Erin Boone. LRU tacked on another run in the fourth, but the Jags scored one in the fifth and seventh to make it interesting.
Freshman Courtney Browne lined an infield single to score sophomore Alex Head after she starting the fifth with a leadoff hit. In Augusta's last at bat, Browne came up big again with a single up the middle to plate junior Lindsey Stokes, but LRU starter Brandi Parks (12-0) recorded a game-ending strikeout to keep her perfect record intact and survive the Jaguars.
Browne was 2-4 with two RBI in game one and sophomore Lydia Hausman had a stolen base and hit for Augusta. Boone was 3-3 as the leadoff for LRU in game one.
The Jaguars went up 2-0 in their first at bat of game two when Stokes and sophomore Kelsea Hunter recorded back-to-back singles and scored on a throwing error.
The Bears knocked a solo home run in the second and fifth to tie the game. They carded two more in the bottom of the fifth to take the day.
Striking out two in her 13th start and 15th appearance on the mound, senior Kristen Mills (1-12) pitched six innings for Augusta and gave up four runs on eight hits.
LRU'S Ty Triplett pitched 5.2 innings to allow eight hits for two runs, before Sydney Miller closed it out.
Leading the Jags in game two were juniors Carolyn Edwards and Marni Greenstein who each had a pair of hits.
Peach Belt Conference competition rolls along for the Jaguars as they host UNC Pembroke for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader at Jaguar Field on Saturday, March 11.
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