After playing a nearly flawless game in a 5-0 victory against Central Christian College on Thursday, Haskell Indian Nations University drew the ire of its coach in the first inning of Game Two.

The Fightin’ Indians committed eight errors in the first inning and four offensive mistakes by coach Gary Tanner’s count and apparently let their guards down after an easy opener.

“I think when they won the first game, they kind of lost focus and lost intensity, and so we got down 3-0,” Tanner said.

Tanner made sure to give his team a wake-up call after the first inning.

“He just yelled at us,” center fielder Kristen McGirt said. “We made eight errors in the first inning, so we had to do something.”

They did something, all right. In the bottom of the third inning with two outs, the Indians plated 10 straight runs on their way to a 10-7 victory.

The difference in the third inning was the Haskell batters’ patience at the plate.

“We got back our focus and got our discipline back because she wasn’t throwing a lot of good pitches, but we were swinging at a lot of wild stuff,” Tanner said.

The Haskell batters quit swinging at wild pitches and drew six walks in the third inning. The Indians sent 16 batters to the plate during the inning. Four of the runs were walked in.

“We should have done it the whole game and not waited until the third inning,” Tanner said. “I’m just glad they turned the lights on and did wake up.”

In the first game, Abby Fire threw a two-hit shutout. The Haskell pitchers did not give up an earned run on the day, as the Tigers’ three runs in the first inning all were unearned against Nicole Bennett, and their four runs in the seventh inning all were unearned as well. Bennett pitched all seven innings in the second game.

Thursday’s games were the first for the Indians since they returned to Lawrence after a four-day trip to South Carolina. Haskell played eight games over the four days – two each day – and split every day.

Haskell opened the conference season 2-0.