Senior centerfielder Maria Zepeda reached base safely in six of seven trips to the plate and senior third baseman Emma Varsbergs belted her first home run as a Forester but their team was defeated 8-0 by Linfield College and 5-4 by Rowan University on Friday.
Zepeda was 2-for-2 and was hit by a pitch against Linfield, the ninth-ranked team in the nation. Junior rightfielder Maddie Trost had the only other hit for the Foresters, who surrendered three runs in the bottom of the fourth, two in the fifth, and three in the sixth to end the game.
Lake Forest was trailing Rowan 4-1 when Varsbergs stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning. Zepeda and senior shortstop Alyssa Grimm drew back-to-back one-out walks and Varsbergs followed with a game-tying homer down the left field line.
Rowan, however, plated a run in the top of the seventh and held on for the victory.
The Foresters scored their other run on a groundout by sophomore catcher Nicole Schussler in the fourth.
Zepeda drew three walks and Grimm accounted for two of Lake Forest's four hits in the contest.
The losses evened the Foresters' record on the season at 6-6 while Linfield improved to 11-1-1 and Rowan to 4-3.
Lake Forest will complete their 10-game Spring Break trip to the Orlando area on Saturday when the team takes on State University of New York-Geneseo at 11:15 a.m. (ET) and Hope College at 1:30 p.m. (ET).
