BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn baseball team dropped its Northeast Conference series opener to Bryant, 10-2 on Friday afternoon at LIU Field.

The Bulldogs league-leading offense went to work early, putting up four runs on five hits to take the early advantage. Bryant added a pair of runs in the top-half of the third on a two-run home run to jump ahead 6-0.

LIU threatened in the bottom half of the third with runners at the corners with two outs but Bryant starter Steve Theetge induced the inning ending groundout to end the threat.

Bryant recorded its third long ball of the game in the top half of the fourth for the eight run advantage. The Blackbirds looked to get on the board in the bottom half of the inning as seniors Gregory Vaughn Jr., Alex Briggs and Brock Hallum opened the inning with three straight singles. Theetge earned a pair of strikeouts and an inning ending pop up to end LIU's scoring chance.

The Blackbirds got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the sixth inning as Vaughn led off the inning with a four-pitch walk. He scored in the next at-bat as Briggs went first pitch swinging, delivering a RBI double down the left field line.

Bryant added another run in the top of the seventh inning on a RBI groundout. LIU opened the bottom half of the seventh with back-to-back singles from senior Andrew Smith and Vaughn. Smith would come around to score on a RBI groundout by Briggs for the Blackbirds second run. The Bulldogs capped the scoring at 10-2 with their fourth home run of the game in the top of the ninth.

The Blackbirds were outhit by the visiting Bulldogs, 14-9 on the day. Vaughn and Briggs led LIU with multi-hit games. Senior Zach Pederson suffered the loss, pitching the opening six frames for the Blackbirds, he fanned a season-high six batters in the start. Freshman Chris Buehler pitched the final three innings in relief for LIU.

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Both teams continue the weekend series tomorrow with a 1:00 p.m. start in downtown Brooklyn.