CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Niagara Purple Eagles fell in the final game of a three-game set to the Cincinnati Bearcats, 2-1, in 10 innings on Monday afternoon.
 
After both teams went scoreless through the first two innings, the Purple Eagles (0-7) struck first in the third inning. With one out, Joel Brophy singled and Tanner Kirwer laced a double to left field one batter later. That two-bagger brought Brophy home and Niagara a 1-0 lead and give the freshman his first career RBI.
 
"Today we played our best game to date," head coach Rob McCoy said. "We competed in all phases and in some really big spots."
 
Niagara held onto the 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fifth when Cincinnati (4-9) tied the game at one. Neither team would put a run up on the board over the next four innings to send the game into extras.
 
Liam Stroud started on the bump for the Purple Eagles. The sophomore went 5.1 innings and gave up one run on four hits with one strikeout. Daniel Procopio held Cincinnati's offense scoreless over 3.1 innings, giving up just one hit to go along with five strikeouts.
 
The Purple Eagles had runners on first and second with two outs in the top of the 10^th inning but were unable to knock them in. The Bearcats singled home the game winning run from third with no outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame to give them the win and the sweep of the three game series.
 
"We found out a lot about ourselves and what we're capable of," said McCoy. "Having said that, we still need to clean up our physical execution on both offense and defense. Attention to detail will be key."
 
Brophy led the way on offense for Niagara, going 2-for-3 with a double. Hayden Coll added a double to give him five in his last six games played.
 
Niagara returns to the field on Tuesday when they head to the Steel City to play a two game set against the University of Pittsburgh with a scheduled first pitch of 1:00 p.m. You can follow the action with Live Stats.