MONROE, La. – Day two of the Best on the Bayou Tournament saw the University of Evansville drop a pair of hard-fought contests versus Sam Houston and UL Monroe.
 
Game 1 – Sam Houston 5, UE 2
 
Sam Houston broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the 6^th and pulled away for a 5-2 win in the first game of the day.  The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when Elia Hebel hit a solo home run to give the Bearkats a 1-0 lead.
 
Evansville quickly responded with a run in the bottom of the frame.  With two outs, Jenna Nink single to led.  After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Jess Willsey brought her home with a double to right center.
 
In the sixth, Sam Houston broke the tie with a single run before scoring three times in the 7^th.  Morgan Holliday completed the scoring with a 2-RBI single.  In Evansville's half of the inning, Callie Meinel reached on a 1-out walk with Dori Brown coming in to pinch run.  With two outs, Hannah Hood and Keghan Pye hit back-to-back singles to load the bases for Brooke McCorkle, who walked to score Brown.  That is where the scoring would end as the Bearkats took a 5-2 win.
 
Abigail Young earned the win, scattering two runs and seven hits across 6 2/3 innings.  Megan Brenton threw a scoreless three innings in the start for the Aces while Mikayla Jolly allowed a run in two frames.  Elle Jarrett took the loss as she threw the final two innings.  Sam Houston accumulated 11 hits while UE had seven.  Willsey and Hannah Hood registered two hits apiece.
 
Game 2 – UL Monroe 6, UE 1
 
UL Monroe jumped out of the gate with a 3-run first inning.  The Warhawks picked up three runs on three hits in the frame and stranded the bases loaded.  With one out in the top of the second, Brooke Voss launched a home run to center field to cut into the ULM lead.  Brooke McCorkle and Taylor Howe also singled in the inning before the Warhawks escaped the jam without any further damage. 
 
In the bottom of the frame, UL Monroe added a pair of runs to go up by four before adding a single run in the sixth.  Evansville was retired in order to finish the game in the seventh.
 
UE finished the game with three hits with Howe, McCorkle and Hood picking up one each.  Megan Brenton took the loss as she gave up five runs on seven hits in three innings.  Elle Jarrett threw the final three innings and allowed one run on three hits.  Meagan Brown was the top performer for the Warhawks as she went 2-3 with two runs scored.  As a team, ULM recorded 10 hits.  Kassidy Giddens earned the win, tossing a complete game 3-hitter. 
 
Sunday's finale will see UE and ULM meet up at 2 p.m.