TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Bradley scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 5-1 lead, but the Braves surrendered seven runs in the final six innings to fall 8-6 to UCONN in the first round of the Gold Championship Bracket at the Florida State Invitational Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Allie Gendron in the top of the first inning, but the Braves pushed five runs across in the bottom half of the inning to take a 5-1 lead. Sophomore Trish Kowalewski hit a one-out double that scored Molly Bergeson from second base and senior Joanna Pettit followed with a two-run double that scored Kowalewski and senior Bethany Till. A walk by Elizabeth Wilson put runners on first and second when Kimberly Dobill singled to center and an error allowed Pettit and Wilson to both score, giving the Braves a 5-1 lead.

UCONN countered with two runs in the top of the second inning, thanks in part to a pair of Bradley errors. A single and error on a fielder's choice put runners at first and second with no outs. An infield single loaded the bases before Meghan Tierney singled to left to plate one run. A Bradley error on the play allowed another run to cross cutting Bradley's lead to 5-3.

The Braves scored a run in the fourth inning to take a 6-3 lead on a UCONN error. Stephanie Ramsey led off the inning with a single and came all the way around to score on a Huskie error when the throw on a ground ball hit to the left side of the infield went down the right field line.

The Huskies exploded for four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Jillian Ortega provided the big blow, smacking a triple after a pair of walks to start the inning to push a pair of runs across. Sarah Neuschwander knocked Ortega in with a one-out double and Micah Truax provided the final run of the inning when she had a two-out single to plate Neuschwander as UCONN took a 7-6 lead.

UCONN added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning. Neuschwander reached on error to lead off the inning and moved to third base on a single and sacrifice bunt. Quan singled to load the bases and Gendron drew a base on balls to plate Neuschwander with an unearned run to give the Huskies an 8-6 lead.

The Braves left runners on in all but one inning, stranding a total of 10 against the Huskies. Bradley fell to 8-6 overall. Freshman Ashley Birdsong suffered the loss pitching two and two-third innings in relief of starter Rebecca Bishop. Birdsong fell to 2-3 on the season with the loss. Senior Brittany Dehler pitched one inning of scoreless relief, giving up one hit.

Bradley will play 15th-ranked Nebraska at 8:30 a.m. (CST) in an elimination game in the gold championship bracket at the Florida State Invitational.