VALPARAISO, Ind. - Erica McNew hit a three-run homer in the top of the seventh inning to break a tie game and give Cleveland State a 5-2 victory over Valparaiso in the series opener on Friday afternoon.

The Vikings improved to 10-25 overall and 3-7 in the Horizon League, while Valparaiso fell to 8-25 overall and 3-8 in the League.

McNew, who had walked in her previous three plate appearances - including two intentional walks - blasted her 10th homer of the season to leftfield with one out in the seventh. After the leadoff batter was retired, Katelind Phillips and Sidney Morgan drew walks and came around to score on McNew's homer.

Valpo's leadoff hitter singled to start the bottom of the seventh, but the next three batters were retired as CSU won its second straight.

Susan Knight's RBI single in the fourth inning scored Darien Ward to open the scoring and Alyson Broschk hit a two-out, solo homer in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Crusaders rallied with two runs in the sixth inning to knot the contest at 2-2 before McNew's League-leading 10th homer of the year.

Broschk finished 2-for-3, while McNew, Phillips, Knight and Alisha Silva all had one hit.

Knight worked 5 1/3 innings in the circle, holding the Crusaders to two runs on three hits while striking out two. Kristin Catalano worked the final 1 2/3 innings to earn the win and improve to 3-0 this year. She gave up just one hit.

The teams will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday (April 16) with the first game scheduled for 1:00 pm ET.