Opening day started well for the Cougars, but they were unable to hold off the Lakers.

Cleveland State (0-2) jumped out to an early lead in both games of their double header, but Lake Land College (4-0) settled in and came back in each game.

"I am not a fan of losing," head coach Steven Jaecks said. "But I was happy with the effort of our team."

In game one the Cougars put up the first run of the game in the bottom of the first with Abby Murrill singling, then stealing second, and scoring on a passed ball. But that would be the only run Cleveland State scored with the Lakers putting up three in the third and one in each of the final two innings to take a 5-1 victory.

Murrill finished the game 1-3 along with Desiree Nance and Layla Pettigrew. Torrey Cummings doubled also going 1-3 while Kristen Fowler finished 2-3. Kylie Hayes pitched a complete game allowing four earned runs on 10 hits while striking out two and walking four.

Game two was a similar story with Cleveland State jumping out to a three-run lead in the bottom of the first off a three-run homer by Morgan Willingham, but they were unable to score throughout the rest of the game.

Lake Land put up two runs in the top of the second, tied it in the fifth, went up by one in the sixth, then tallied another six in the final inning capitalizing off a few Cleveland State errors.

Willingham went 3-3 on the game while Whitney Lee finished 2-3 and Murrill put together another 1-3 performance, stealing another base and scoring a run. While the Lakers scored ten, pitcher Kadence Brewer pitched a complete game allowing just two earned runs off 12 hits while striking out two and walking three.

"We can use today to help us understand how to make mental adjustments in our approach to the competition," Jaecks said.

Cleveland State will be back in action next Saturday at Calhoun Community College in a double header with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.