TOPEKA, Kan. – No. 13-ranked Central Oklahoma split a pair of games at the Washburn Invitational Monday, cruising past Wayne State in the opener before dropping a hard-fought contest to Minnesota State.

Shelby Beard continued her early-season dominance in the pitching circle against WSU, giving up just four hits in an 8-1 victory. The Bronchos fell to the Mavericks 3-2 in the second game, snapping a five-game winning streak.

UCO, now 12-3 on the season, finishes up the three-day event Tuesday with games against Minot State (12 p.m.) and Maryville (4 p.m.).

"I'm really proud of Shelby," head coach Cody White said. "She's pitched really well this year and had another great outing today.

"We didn't take advantage of the scoring chances we had against Minnesota and came up a little short against a good team. Hopefully we bounce back tomorrow and finish on a positive note."

Beard moved to 7-0 with the first game win. The sophomore right-hander struck out four and walked two, with the Wildcats' only score coming on a second-inning home run.

UCO broke on top 2-0 in the top of the first on run-scoring singles by Terin Ritz and Ariah Mitchell, then answered WSU's lone score with a pair of unearned runs in the third.

The Bronchos made it 8-1 in the sixth as Rylee Lemos belted a two-run homer, Ritz added a solo shot and another run scored on an error.

Ritz had two of UCO's seven hits in the contest.

Minnesota State broke on top 2-0 in the second inning of the second game and added another run in the fifth. Lemos smacked a solo homer in the fourth and added an RBI double in the sixth, but the Bronchos never led.