CLEVELAND, Ohio - Susan Knight pitched a complete game, four-hitter and Alyson Broschk drove in two runs as Cleveland State defeated Northern Kentucky, 5-3, in the series opener on Friday afternoon at Viking Field.

CSU, which has won four of its last five games, improved to 12-26 overall and 5-8 in the Horizon League, while the Norse fell to 9-34 overall and 2-13 in the League.

Knight fired her eighth complete game of the season, holding the Norse to just three singles and a double. She surrendered three runs and just two earned.

Erica McNew drew a walk in her first at-bat of the game, extending her streak of reaching base safely to 15 straight plate appearances, second most in NCAA history. She grounded out to the pitcher in her second at-bat, ending the streak.

Broschk gave the Vikings a 2-0 lead with a two-run single in the first, but the Norse came back with a run in the second inning to pull within one run.

Knight scored an an NKU error in the third inning to extend the CSU lead to 3-1 and an RBI single from Katelind Phillips and bases loaded walk to Mackenzie Joecken in the fourth pushed the lead to 5-1.

The Norse used a two-run single from Dani Devlin in the fifth inning to slice the CSU lead to 5-3, but Knight retired NKU in order in the sixth and after hitting the leadoff batter in the seventh, she retired the next three batters to seal the win.

Phillips and Knight both finished with two hits, while Broschk and Kait Gairing had one each.

The two teams will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday (April 23) at 12:00 pm at Viking Field.