Freshman Alicia Marion stayed hot with her third consecutive multi-hit game as UT Permian Basin fell in a tight contest to MSU Texas 8-5.

"Alice has done a great job in the lead off spot.  She missed the first part of the year hurt so it's taken her a bit to work back into things," said Head Coach Tiala Tagaloa.  "The job of the lead-off hitter is to get in there and battle to pitcher and give the rest of the line-up courage.  She has don an outstanding job and done exactly that.  She has been seeing a lot of pitches and done a great job putting pressure on the defense.  I'm extremely proud of her for her tenacity and look forward to seeing her excel to new heights as a Falcon."

Marion got things started with a lead-off single.  Jessica Gonzalez moved her to third with a double setting the Falcons (9-30, 3-19) with runners in scoring position and one out.  Marion scored on a passed ball then Gonzalez came in on a sacrifice fly by Kayla Martin for the early 2-0 lead.  In their half of the inning the Mustangs (17-16, 8-14) would answer with a pair of their own before adding another run in the second to take the lead at 3-2.

Marion would lead-off the third inning with a triple once again setting the table for the Falcons.  Abby Hernandez knocked her in with an RBI-single to center to tie the game at three.  Hernandez moved third before Martin would get her second RBI of the night on a groundout to second giving the Falcons a 4-3 lead.  The lead was short lived as the Mustangs would get the run back in the bottom of the inning tying the game again.  They then took the lead with a pair in the fourth and add two insurance runs in the sixth to make it an 8-4 game.  The Falcons made things interesting in the seventh when Abby Hernandez reached on a fielder's choice and Gonzalez doubled putting runners in scoring position.  Hernandez scored on a throwing error making it 8-5 but that's as close as the Falcons could get for the 8-5 final.

Gonzalez had a pair of doubles and scored a run helping to power the Falcon offense.  Marion picked up two hits and scored twice while also reaching later in the game on an error.  Hernandez also scored twice while Martin drove in a pair as the top four in the order did most of the damage.  The duo of Sloan Springfield and Abrie Castillo combined to strike out six Mustang batters.

These teams wrap up their series tomorrow with a double header beginning at 2 p.m. after the weekend was moved up due to potential weather over the weekend in the Wichita Falls area.