CLEVELAND, Ohio - Erica McNew hit her ninth homer of the season and three Cleveland State pitchers combined to hold Youngstown State to one run as the Vikings won the series finale against the Peguins, 7-1, on Thursday afternoon at Viking Field.

CSU improved to 9-25 overall and 2-7 in the Horizon League, while YSU fell to 20-14 (7-3 HL).

Riley Ries had two of CSU's seven hits, while Katelind Phillips, Kait Gairing, McNew, Susan Knight and Alisha Silva had one hit each.

The trio of Knight, Kristin Catalano and Macy Kaisk combined to hold the Penguins to just one run, while striking out four.

Knight started and went 2 1/3 innings, giving up one run, Catalano worked two innings, limiting YSU to one hit with two strikeouts. She earned the win to improve to 2-0 this year.

Kaisk worked the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and fanning two to earn her first career save.

CSU took a 2-0 lead in the first as Phillips drew a leadoff walk and scored on McNew's two-run homer. It was her 45th career homer, moving McNew past Cynthia Woodard and into second place on the all-time list at CSU.

The Penguins came back with a run in the second to pull within 2-1, but an RBI single by Knight and an unearned run on a YSU error in the third pushed the Viking lead to 4-1.

It stayed that way until the sixth when the Vikings scored three times to open up a 7-1 lead. Silva delivered an RBI double, while Phillips and Ries had run scoring singles.

The Penguins threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but Kaisk got Brittney Moffatt to line out to left field and Gairing doubled up Maria Lacantena at second base to end the game.

The Vikings are back in action this weekend with a three-game series at Valparaiso. The first game is scheduled for Friday (April 15) at 4:00 pm ET with a doubleheader slated for Saturday (April 16) at 1:00 pm ET.