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CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- The Southern Illinois University softball team dropped a pair of Missouri Valley Conference games to Missouri State on Wednesday, as the Salukis fell 4-0 in the opener and suffered a 4-1 defeat to the Bears in the nightcap.

Southern struggled to find the timely hits that it needed in either game on Wednesday. The Salukis finished with 10 hits and drew 11 total walks in Wednesday's doubleheader but were just 2-for-19 on the day with runners in scoring position and Southern left a total of 20 runners stranded on base.

"We've got to learn that easy isn't always going to be the way it is," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "That's what I'm afraid of. Things aren't always going to come easy. They didn't come easy today and we didn't do a great job. You've got to give Missouri State credit- they came ready to play."

SIU's pitchers were solid despite the losses. Sarah Harness, Carlee Jo Clark and Madi Eberle combined to hold the Bears to nine total hits and tallied 17 strikeouts- but Missouri State's three home runs Wednesday were the difference. 

In game one, Alex Boze hit a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning off Harness, and Tess Weakly opened the second inning with a solo shot which were all the runs Missouri State starting pitcher Steffany Dickerson needed. In game two, Olivia Krehbiel stroked a two-run, first inning home run off Eberle that held up.

"I'm very disappointed, more so with our offense," Blaylock said. "I thought our pitchers made three mistakes in terms of pitch locations. We had three flat pitches and they jumped on every one of them. They didn't give us any room for error. We had too many taken third strikes and I was very disappointed in that."

In game one, Missouri State used a lead off walk and a two-out home run to take an early 2-0 lead. The Bears added to their lead with a solo shot in the second. The Salukis loaded the bases in both the third and fourth innings but were unable to come through with the clutch hit that they needed.

The Bears added to their lead with a solo run in the sixth before Clark came on in relief of Harness and got the Salukis out of a bases loaded jam.

Southern stranded at least one runner in six of seven innings in its game one loss. Sidney Sikes was 1-for-2 while Elizabet Warwick went 1-for-3 with a walk to extend her reached base streak to 15 games. 

Harness took the loss in the circle. She fell to 10-2 on the season after she threw five and two-third innings, allowed four earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. Clark threw an inning and a third of one-hit relief.

In the nightcap, Missouri State again struck first thanks to a two-run, first inning home run. The two sides traded zeros from there until the bottom of the fifth when Katelyn Massa's two-out RBI-single cut SIU's deficit in half. 

After a scoreless sixth, the Bears used a hit and an error to plate two more runs in the seventh and push their lead to 4-1.

Eberle took the loss despite having settled in after the first inning home run. The Gibson City, Ill. native allowed just three hits and finished with a career-high nine strikeouts. Six different Salukis recorded a hit in the loss.

The Salukis are back at home on Saturday, March 27 when they host the Bradley Braves for a three-game set. Game one on Saturday is slated for a 12 p.m. start.