Season Stats | Game 1 | Game 2

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Squeezing in a home date before heading out on a weekend road trip, the SBU Bearcats split a doubleheader with Division II newcomer Maryville, winning the opener in a 1-0 defensive battle before falling 5-3 as the late comeback bid fell short. Junior pitcher Josie Rose won her seventh game of the season while allowing only four hits. After giving up a walk in the second inning, Rose retired eight straight batters before allowing a leadoff hit in the fifth. Rose also tied her season high of nine strikeouts, reaching that mark for the fourth time this season.

The Bearcats' lone run of the opening game came in just the third at-bat; Nina Amaro-Garcia doubled with one out then was driven home by first baseman Sarah Brison's single through the right side.

SBU took advantage of an early-inning run in the second game as well, as Krysta Baderdeen's two-out single drove in BreAnn Proctor, who led the first inning off with an infield hit. The Saints would go on to score four unanswered from the third through the fifth innings, after which the 'Cats would get one back on a Maryville passed ball, scoring second baseman Stephanie Sechler and cutting the lead to 4-2. Maryville tacked one more on in the seventh, and SBU got one of their own in the bottom half of the inning, but it wasn't enough.

Amaro-Garcia and Brison each went 3-for-7 in the two games combined, with Amaro-Garcia scoring two of SBU's four runs total. With the split, SBU moves to 11-15 overall, and will take their 0-2 MIAA record back into conference play this Friday, April 2 when they travel to Missouri Southern. SBU has already met with the Lions once, a 6-1 Southern win almost two weeks ago. The 'Cats then head just a little further west, for a meeting with Pittsburg State on Saturday, April 3. Both days are scheduled to be doubleheaders starting at 3 pm.