St. Louis, Mo. - The Spartans had a tough day on the mound and at the plate against Columbia. The Cougars defeated Missouri Baptist in game one 10-1 in five innings and in game two 11-1 in five innings.

Starter Kirsten Bennett was unable to make it out of the first inning, allowing five runs on six hits while getting two outs. The Cougars came out swinging in the first inning, torching the Spartans with eight runs on nine hits. After relieving Bennett, Kellsie Domnitz gave up a three run homer off the bat of Tori Gehlert, capping off the big inning.

Columbia added two more runs in the second inning, pushing the lead to 10-0. The only run for the Spartans came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jenna Bentlage led off with a single to left and advanced to third on a Katie Payne double to left. Next up was Danielle Bayer, who added the lone RBI on the day with a single to left, scoring Bentlage. Domnitz pitched four innings, allowing five runs on nine hits.

After managing just five hits in game one, the Spartan bats stayed cold as the team compiled only three hits, scoring one run in game two. It was Columbia striking first again, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Missouri Baptist starter Jena Trombley.

The Spartans did manage to get one of those runs back in the top of the second inning. After Heathre DePratt was hit by a pitch, second baseman Corey Pitchford came up to the dish and ripped a double to left center, scoring DePratt.

Trombley couldn't slow down the Cougar offense however, as the freshman pitched four innings allowing 11 runs, only seven runs were earned on 10 hits. Columbia went on to add three more runs in the bottom of the second and one in the third taking a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth, Jessica Hardy came to the plate for Columbia. The catcher ripped a Trombley pitch over the center field wall, ending the game.

At the end of the day, every starter in both games for Columbia had at least one hit. The Cougars outscored the Spartans 21-2 and out hit the team 25-8.

The Spartans record moves to 24-11, but will look to regroup as the team travels to Blackburn College tomorrow. First pitch is set to be thrown at 4:00 p.m.