AUBURN, Ala. - Western Illinois (6-3) closed out the weekend with an 11-7 loss in eight innings to fellow Summit League member, Omaha on Sun. (Feb. 16).

"We put things together early in the day," said head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "We couldn't carry that over later in the game but I was happy at times with the way we did put it together. I think we need to do a little bit better in pressure situations. We just needed to produce the same at bats that we had earlier in the game."

The Purple and Gold fell behind early, allowing 3 runs to cross in the top of the first, but would come back scoring two of their own when Monica Rondón singled home both Teagan Walsh and Sammy Marshall.

The Leathernecks took the lead in the very next inning after Karissa Kouchis and Marshall reached to lead off the inning and Walsh doubled both runners home. With a 4-3 lead, Lia Romeo picked up her fifth RBI in two games, hitting a fly ball to center to score Walsh.

The Mavericks took a 6-5 lead after the first three runners reached in the third, chasing Kacyee Hart from the game. Hailey Bickford came on in relief and was helped out by Briana Williams who threw out a Maverick at home plate.

"Once we got past the first couple of batters, Hailey really did a nice job," Van Vlymen said. "They're a very good hitting team so I was happy with her performance."

Western Illinois tied the game at six in the bottom half of the fourth, and had baserunners on in each of the final three innings, but were unable to push across the go-ahead run.

Bickford allowed only three Mavericks to reach from the fourth to the seventh inning, but in the eighth, with the international tiebreaker rule in effect, Omaha scored five times after an error kept the lead runner on base.

The Leathernecks did not go down easy, forcing Kat Barrow to walk the bases loaded and ultimately walk in a run. With the score 11-7, first baseman Amber Lutmer made a leaping catch over the net in front of the dugout in foul territory for the third and final out.

"We need to learn from these experiences," Van Vlymen said. "We knew with this being our first time playing on dirt it was going to be different. We made some errors we normally wouldn't and once we spend more time on dirt and have more true ground balls those will go away. We expected some struggles and every weekend we play we'll get better and there's no point in dwelling on it. I'm really happy where we're at right now."

Walsh and Rondón each drove in multiple runs, while Romeo drove in another. The Leatherneck offense combined for ten hits against the Mavericks.

Western Illinois will be back in action next weekend in Conway, Ark. in the Central Arkansas Tournament beginning on Sat. (Feb. 22).