Hosting Avila on April 14 at Cavaness Field, the Baker Wildcats dropped the first game 2-0 to the Eagles but redeemed themselves in game two with a walk-off 3-2 victory in the 10th inning.

In the second game, the Wildcats had a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, but the Eagles struck back with two runs before Baker could get three outs. The next three innings went scoreless by both teams. In the 10th, freshman second baseman Allie Zahn came to the plate and hit a single to bring in freshman shortstop Stephanie Cardona to win the game.

Junior Mallorie Nelson started on the mound in game one for the Wildcats and pitched the full game. She also came back to the mound in game two for the final five innings, totaling 12 innings pitched. Nelson struck out a total of 16 batters while giving up seven hits in both games.

This past Saturday Baker faced the ninth-ranked Eagles from Central Methodist University and came home empty handed. The Wildcats lost both games to the Eagles with scores of 4-0 in game one and 5-0 in game two.

Nelson pitched six innings in game one. She had 10 strikeouts, but gave up six hits to total four runs for the Eagles. Senior infielder Peyton Weekly tallied the only hit for the Wildcats in game one. After the disappointing loss in the first game, the woes for the Wildcats were not over.

In game two, the ‘Cats were able to put the ball in play more with three hits from Weekly, freshman catcher Kaitlyn Saunders, and sophomore outfielder Sloane Brady. Freshman Teagan Louthan took the mound for game two and had only one strikeout while giving up 11 hits and five runs for the Eagles.

These two victories for the Eagles tallied their 17th and 18th straight wins.

The Wildcats play this Saturday at Graceland in Lamoni, Iowa. The Baker sits at 11-26 on the season and 6-8 in the HAAC. This doubleheader against Graceland can give the ‘Cats an opportunity to go .500 in the HAAC and possibly string together wins for seeding in the conference tournament.