VERO BEACH, Fla. – The Purple Eagles baseball team was topped by Pittsburgh, 19-10, in their season-opener on Friday.

"The game was better than the score reflected," said Niagara head coach Rob McCoy. "One big, crooked-number inning put us behind the eight-ball, but we still have a lot of good things to take away from the game. Our offense was good and we played fairly good defense. All in all, it was a productive day."

Michael Fuhrman scored the lone run for Niagara (0-1, 0-0 MAAC) in the top of the first inning; with two outs already on the board, Fuhrman doubled to center field. A single to right field from Taylor Hackett sent Fuhrman home, giving Niagara a 1-0 lead. Pitt batted in three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-1 lead. The Purple Eagles made a quick comeback; Joel Brophy hit a solo homerun to put the Purple Eagles down by only two runs, 4-2. Julian Gallup followed with a homer of his own, sending home Nick Bernick, who was already on base, and tying up the score 4-4 going into the bottom of the second inning.

Pitt (1-0, 0-0 ACC) scored eight runs in the bottom of the second and batted in seven more runs over the next four innings; Niagara faced a 19-4 deficit heading into the top of the seventh. With Owen Dziados, Darian Blanks and Tanner Kirwer already on base, Mark Meisner grounded out to short, advancing Blanks and Kirwer and sending Dziados home for Niagara's first run since the top of the second inning. Greg Rodgers followed with a fly to center field to score Blanks. Hackett singled to send Tanner Kirwer home, putting Niagara down 19-7. Pitcher Dienston Manuela struck-out two Pitt batters to close out the eighth inning and in the top of the ninth, Brophy hit his second homer of the game, scoring Hackett and Greg Cullen and earning three RBIs.

Brophy went 2-for-5 at the plate and led Niagara with four RBIs and two runs scored. Hackett and Gallup had two RBIs each. James Walker started on the mound and took the loss.

The Purple Eagles play next on Saturday, Feb. 20 against Ohio State at 2:30 p.m. and Toledo at 6:00 p.m.

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