WISE - - Softball dropped a pair of games to Tusculum University Tuesday afternoon. The Cavaliers fell in game one 8-6 to the Pioneers before dropping game two 11-3 in five innings.

UVa-Wise jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the home half of the second. Sophomore Alexis Miles drove home fellow sophomore Kaylee Jones on a two-run homer following Jones' leadoff single. Junior Taylor Creasey hit a double through the right side on her first at-bat of the game before advancing to third on a sacrifice hit by sophomore Casey Chambers. Senior Shannon Bennet's sacrifice fly scored Creasey for the Cavs final run of the inning with three runs on three hits for UVa-Wise.

Tusculum's leadoff homer in the top of the second put the Pioneers on the scoreboard. Tusculum recorded one more hit in the inning on a single but continued to trail the Cavs 3-1 into the bottom of the second.

The Pioneers pushed ahead of the Cavs in the top of the third with a leadoff walk and a bunt putting runners on first and second for Tusculum. The Pioneers' Emily Hester's blast to left field scored three to gain a 4-3 lead to close out the frame.

Tusculum tacked on two more runs across the fourth and fifth inning to gain a 6-3 advantage over the Cavs.

The Cavs responded with a leadoff homer to right field off the bat of Jones to open the bottom of the fifth. Chambers connected for a two-out double on her at-bat and advanced to third on a wild pitch but the Cavs third out sent them into the top of the sixth down 6-4 to the Pioneers.

The Pioneers extended their lead to 8-4 with a two-RBI single by Emma Casey in the top of the sixth inning.

Smith's double to leadoff the home half of the sixth put UVa-Wise in scoring position as Hoy came up to bat to get her first homerun of the day and third of the season to put the Cavs down by two runs, 8-6.

Neither team scored in the final inning of game one as the Pioneers earned the game one win.

Jones, Miles and junior Nikki Smith each finished with two hits in the game. Jones led the team with two runs while Miles and Hoy each had two RBI.

 Tusculums' Ivee Richesin picked up the win to improve to 2-2 on the season allowing two hits and striking out a pair in three innings of work. The Pioneers' Allison Pate earned her first save of the season with the win.

Junior Raychel Lapallo fell to 1-5 with the loss, giving up 11 hits with six strikeouts in a complete game effort.

Tusuclum pushed across two runs to open game two led off by a single to left field. Another single put two Pioneers' runners in the corners before a two-out single to center field scored a run. Tusculum sent one more home on the final play to take a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the inning.

The Pioneers' bumped their lead to 4-0 in the third before scoring three more runs in the fourth inning for a 7-0 advantage.

A hit by pitch and one-out single to left field put two runners on for the Cavs as they looked to score in the bottom of the fourth. Melissa Bartley would enter the game as a pinch runner before Smith connected for her first homerun of the campaign scoring three runs for UVa-Wise as they trailed the Pioneers 7-3 into the fifth.

The Pioneers looked to secure their win in the top of the fifth frame pushing across four more runs on a pair of singles for an 11-3 game two win over the Cavs.

The Pioneers' Allison Pate (4-2) earned the win allowing five hits with six strikeouts across five innings.

Ashleigh Nalls (0-1) suffered the loss as she scattered eight hits and fanned two in 3 2/3 innings inside the circle.

UVa-Wise opens Mountain East Conference play at home this weekend with a doubleheader against Charleston Saturday at 1 p.m. The Cavs return to Cavalier Field Sunday for a pair of games against West Virginia State beginning at 1 p.m.