The Mount St. Mary's baseball team opened Northeast Conference play with a 9-1 loss at Quinnipiac on Friday afternoon.

Shane Eyler went 3-for-4 at the plate while Josh Winter added a pair of hits in the loss. Peter Decandia allowed one earned run in 4.1 innings of relief for the Mountaineers.

Quinnipiac (1-12, 1-0 NEC) jumped on top with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Mike Bartlett was hit by a pitch top open the inning and moved to third on a Brian Monack two-base hit. Bartlett scored on Joe Poletsky's ground out to shortstop while Gabe Guerino brought home Monack with an RBI single.

The Bobcats broke the game open in the bottom with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kyle Nisson, Mickey Amanti and Ryan Ullrich each singled to load the bases with no outs. Bartlett then walked to force home Nisson to make the score 3-0. Brian Monack added a two-run single with one out to make the score 5-0 and Chris Migani had a two-run double to make the score 7-0.

Mount St. Mary's (4-12, 0-1 NEC) got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning. Kyle Kane led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Eyler singled to center field to move Kane to third and Mark Quaranta's fielder's choice brought home Kane with the Mount's first run.

The Bobcats rounded out the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Mike Oskandy tossed a complete game with five strikeouts to earn the win for Quinnipiac.

The teams resume the four-game series with a noon doubleheader tomorrow at the Quinnipiac University baseball field.