MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.--Eastern Softball started a rally in the fifth inning of Tuesday's frigid contest with Iowa Wesleyan College, but the Eagles came up one run short and fell 5-4.

Eagles' freshmen Ashton Tomlinson and Erica Pyla-Gibson had a great day at the plate as they each batted 3-for-3.

The Eagles out hit the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers 9-8 but had seven runners left on base to the Tigers' five.

Two doubles in the top of the first inning gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. The Tigers tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Eastern went the first four innings without scoring a run and left runners in scoring position in the first three.

The Tigers added another run in the fifth on a sac fly to take a 5-0 lead. Eastern finally took to the scoreboard with Tomlinson slapping an RBI-double into left field. Michelle Stehman later scored on a wild pitch and Emily Houck drove in Tomlinson on a sac fly.

The Eagles picked up one run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI-groundout by Houck, but weren't able to generate any more runs in the inning and fell by the final score of 5-4.

Eastern's morning game against LaRoche College was postponed because of the cold weather. A make-up time is still to be determined.

The Eagles will face Iowa Wesleyan again at 9:30 on Wednesday morning and then Cardinal Stritch University at 11:30 a.m.

Box Score