TRUMBULL, CONN. - The Monmouth University baseball team fell 11-4 at Sacred Heart University in the opening game of a Northeast Conference series on Thursday afternoon. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 20-20 overall and 13-12 in conference play.

Monmouth opened the scoring in the first inning, when Ryan Terry connected on his team-leading ninth homer of the season, a solo shot to center, giving the Hawks a 1-0 edge.

The Pioneers knotted the score at 1-1 in the home half of the first, notching an unearned run on an RBI groundout, and pushed the advantage to 4-1 with three scores in the bottom of the second, as SHU strung together five singles and a pair of sacrifice flies.

Monmouth responded with a three-run third frame to tie the score at 4-4, when Jamie Rosenkranz launched a two-out, three-run home run to leftfield, plating Josh Boyd and Mike Casale in front of him.

SHU scored, which notched single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, scored seven unanswered to go ahead 11-4 after eight innings, which was capped by a five-run eighth.

After the single runs gave the Pioneers a 6-4 lead, SHU scored five runs on one hit in the eighth to claim an 11-4 advantage. In the eighth, reliever Matt Goitz hit a pair of batters and walked one to load the bases, before a wild pitch allowed a run to cross. Following a Joe Loiodice walk, which re-loaded the bags, Jeff Heppner connected on a grand slam to leftfield.

Nick Meyers (5-2) was saddled with the loss for the Hawks, his first defeat since April 1, allowing five earned runs on 14 hits, in 7.0 innings of work. Stephen Prosapio recorded the final three outs in the eighth for Monmouth.

Terry went 2-for-4 for the Hawks, who collected seven hits.

Monmouth and Sacred Heart (25-22, 16-9 NEC) resume the league series on Friday, with a noon doubleheader at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard, in Bridgeport.