BATON ROUGE, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team suffered a pair of losses on Friday in the opening day of the LSU Invitational, falling 5-3 to Iowa before a 3-1 setback to No. 17 LSU at Tiger Park.

Nicholls (9-6) will continue play on Saturday with two more contests. The opener against Iowa is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and they will face Memphis immediately after at 1:30 p.m.

Game 1 - Iowa 5, Nicholls 3

The Hawkeyes used a pair of doubles and a home run to build a 5-0 advantage through four innings before a late Colonels' rally came up short.

Claire Sisco and Erin Krause combined for four of the Colonels' five hits, with Sisco driving in two of the runs. 

Molly Yoo took the loss with four earned runs on five hits in 1.1 innings. Averi Paden limited Iowa (11-5) to a lone run on six hits in 5.2 innings.

After plating two runs in the first on a base hit, the Hawkeyes made it 4-0 in the second after back-to-back doubles by Tory Bennett and Devin Simon. Then Bennett hit a solo shot in the fourth for Iowa's final run.

Sisco ended Serayah Neiss' shutout bid with an RBI single in the fifth. After Iowa changed pitchers, the Colonels pieced together two late runs in the seventh to make the final. Sisco tripled in the first run, then scored on an RBI groundout by Ava Burkett. 

Neiss (7-0) struck out five in 5.0 innings for the win.

Game 2 - No. 17 LSU 3, Nicholls 1

The Colonels struck first with a Sisco RBI single in the third against nationally-ranked LSU but it would be the only hit on the day in a 3-1 loss to the Tigers.

Laylin Sturm reached on a hit-by-pitch and stole second, setting up Sisco's run-scoring hit up the middle for a 1-0 lead. 

Ashley Little struck out three and retired the Tigers in order in her first two frames, but ran into trouble in the third. A hit-by-pitch and two singles tied the game at 1-1, then Sierra Ouellette forced a flyout to strand three runners.

After a scoreless fourth, Ouellette issued two free passes to start the bottom of the fifth and left the game for Yoo. LSU scored on a fielder's choice then Bergeron made it 3-1 with an RBI single.

Ally Mooneyham reached on a walk in the sixth before the Colonels were retired in order in the seventh to end the game.

Tatum Clopton picked up the win with two strikeouts in 5.0 innings while Jayden Heavener tossed two hitless frames for the save.