Ruston ? In only their fifth home game this season, the Lady Techsters (7-21) dropped a battle against the University of Louisiana-Monroe Wednesday night by the score of 6-3 at the Lady Techster Softball Complex.

Errors were again the determining factor as four Lady Techster errors led to four unearned runs in the three-run defeat.

?Those errors really hurt,? head coach Sarah Dawson said. ?We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.?

Senior Marla Pinkston (4-8) picked up the loss throwing a complete seven innings with five strikeouts. The Texas native allowed six runs (two earned) with nine hits and zero walks.

?Marla pitched well tonight,? Dawson said. ?The errors put runners on base and she had throw the ball over the plate more than she would have liked.?

Offensively Tech pounded out eight hits and had a 1-0 lead after the first inning.

With two outs in the first inning shortstop Casey Reiff reached on an error and advanced to second base when third baseman Bridget Broadnax followed with a single. The next batter, first baseman Ashley Aycock, singled in Reiff to give the Techsters a one-run opening frame lead.

ULM would score one in the second, four in the fourth and one in the fifth before Tech would mount a comeback.

Left fielder Brittany Stanley led off the fifth inning with a single and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by center fielder Amber Miles.

After a ULM error put two runners on, Aycock picked up her second and third RBIs of the game on a double to right field.

Tech would put a runner on in the sixth inning but its scoring was done for the day.

?I thought we hit the ball better today than we have for the past couple of games,? Dawson said.

The Lady Techsters will return to action on Friday when they host Sam Houston Sate for a doubleheader with the scheduled first pitch set for 5 p.m.