CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State hit three home runs and Susan Knight fired her fifth straight complete game as the Vikings defeated Green Bay, 9-2, in the series opener on Friday afternoon at Viking Field.

CSU improved to 19-28 overall and 12-10 overall, winning for the 11th time in the last 14 games. The Phoenix slipped to 19-31 overall and 10-10 in the League.

Knight, who picked up her seventh win of the year, gave up just two runs on six hits with four strikeouts.

Alyson Broschk, Katelind Phillips and Erica McNew all hit home runs to pace the Viking offense, which scored five times in the second inning and four more times in the third and finished with 13 hits.

The Phoenix took an early 2-0 lead with two tallies in the second innings, but CSU responded with five runs in the second, thanks to three home runs.

Broschk got things started with a one out, solo home run and after the Phoenix recorded the second out of the inning, Kait Gairing and Alisha Silva followed with back-to-back singles with Phillips drilling a three-run homer to give the Vikings a 4-2 lead.

McNew followed with a long blast to left center field, her 50th career home run and 147th career RBI. Her 50 homers rank second all-time in CSU history, while she is one RBI shy of tying the CSU career record.

Broschk added an RBI single in the third, while Mackenzie Joecken delivered a two-run double and Gairing had an RBI single to push the lead to 9-2.

Broschk finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Gairing was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Silva and Mel Woodard also had two hits, while McNew reached base in three of her four plate appearances with a homer and two walks.

The teams will conclude their three game series with a doubleheader on Saturday (May 7) with the first game at 12:00 pm.

It will be Senior Day with CSU's six seniors - Darien Ward, Silva, Phillips, Knight, Broschk and McNew - being honored in a pre-game ceremony.