DURHAM, N.C. – The Niagara Purple Eagles combined an offense that scored early and often with another strong outing on the mound to get their first win of the year with a 7-1 victory over the North Carolina Central Eagles on Friday night.
 
Jordan Schwartz was a force on the mound for the Purple Eagles (1-3). The righty didn't allow a runner to get past first base until the fourth inning and a run didn't cross the plate until the seventh. The lone run came in an inning where Schwartz responded to a pair of singles with back-to-back strikeouts before a third single broke the shutout. He racked up 12 strikeouts while giving up seven hits and issuing two walks through 6.2 innings.
 
Niagara turned to Austin Miller and Jacob Lysiak  out of the pen to shut the door through the final 2.1 innings, which they did. The pair held the Eagles (0-2-1) to one hit and gave up two walks.
 
"Jordan gave us a great start and our bullpen was strong," head coach Rob McCoy said. "We also played great on defense."
 
Niagara got rolling on offense immediately with a lead-off homerun from Anthony Firenzi. Michael Fuhrman brought in a career-high four RBIs, starting with a single in the third inning that brought around Thomas Rodrigues to make the score 3-0. Rodrigues had just brought in an RBI of his own with a RBI double. Two innings later Fuhrman sent a two-run shot to right to extend the score to 5-0. His final RBI came in the eighth with his second triple of the game and added the final insurance run in the 7-1 victory.
 
"Mike had a great game for us at the plate and on defense," McCoy said.
 
Fuhrman finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He added three putouts and two assists on defense.
 
These two teams get back on the field tomorrow for a doubleheader. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.