MILWAUKEE – The continuation of a recent string of close games brought more disappointment for the Lakeland University softball team with a pair of losses to Milwaukee School of Engineering Monday evening.

The Muskies lost twice to the Raiders in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader, both games by 4-3 scores. The second contest ended in extra innings, with MSOE scoring the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Lakeland dropped to 14-18 overall and is now 7-9 in the NACC. The Muskies have now lost five of their last six games, though five straight games have been decided by a single run, including three of those in extra innings. In all, Lakeland has played 11 one-run games this season (6-5 record in those games) and also is now 4-3 in extra-inning games.

The Muskies staged seventh-inning rallies in both games, including a run in the top of the seventh in the first game to take a 3-2 lead. Cheyenne Mathas (Fr.-St. John, Ind.) singled on the infield with one down and Taylor Bush (Sr.-Waukesha, Wis.) followed with a double down the left field line with Mathas coming all the way around to score.

MSOE (24-10 overall, 14-2 NACC) needed just two batters to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, though. Lauren Stefanczyk singled and Emily Snow followed with a double to tie it. Lakeland pitcher Rikki Vela (Sr.-Waukegan, Ill.) then got two outs while Snow moved up to third, but Kim White singled to send Snow home with the winning run to clinch it.

The Muskies took an early 2-0 lead in the second game when Leah Binsfeld (So.-Kaukauna, Wis.) hit a two-run home run for her first collegiate round-tripper. The Raiders tied it back up with two runs in the fourth and took the lead one inning later with a single run in the fifth.

Lakeland came back to tie it in the seventh when Meghan Etten (Elkhorn, Wis.) tripled to score pinch runner A.J. Zickuhr (Bettendorf, Iowa). The Muskies had a chance to take the lead in the eighth when Madi Olson (So.-Eau Claire, Wis.) singled, Lindsay Cudecki (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) hit a double and Ally Lira (So.-Elk Grove Village, Ill.) walked to load the bases with one out. MSOE got out of the inning, though, and then won it in the bottom of the eighth Emma Megal singled with one outs to score Rachel Ziemba from second.

Olson finished 3-for-4 in the second game and also added a two-run double in the first contest. Lira also added two hits in the nightcap. Vela pitched 6 2/3 innings in the first game and allowed nine hits and just two earned runs with four strikeouts, while Cudecki relieved Binsfeld after 4 1/3 innings in the second game and took the loss, allowing one run in three-plus innings.

Lakeland is back in action Tuesday and is in Milwaukee again when it travels to take on Wisconsin Lutheran College at 3 p.m. in a doubleheader rescheduled after being postponed last week.