West Haven, Conn. - As the league schedule got underway for the Panthers on Friday, the Adelphi University baseball team lost the first two games of a four-game series to University of New Haven at Frank Vieira Field in West Haven.

With inclement weather fogging the forecast for tomorrow, Adelphi (8-12, 0-2 NE10) and New Haven (14-3, 2-0 NE10) will conclude the series Sunday with another doubleheader.

Game 1: Adelphi 2, New Haven 9
Working on seven days rest, John Rizzo worked a clean first against the New Haven lineup, but wasn't as fortunate in the second.

Despite picking up a strikeout to open the inning, Rizzo gave up back-to-back singles, before UNH's Kenneth Franquiz followed with a two-RBI hit that got the scoring started.

The Panthers had a runner in scoring position in each of the first five innings against New Haven starter Izaiya Mestre, and finally broke through in the fifth after Albert Ramos led things off with a triple.

As Kyle Olson singled in Ramos to cut the deficit in half, UNH answered with four runs in their half of the fifth to keep Adelphi at bay.

Rizzo worked seven innings, and let up eight hits and six runs with six strikeouts. Nick Gavilla served up a three-run homer in the eighth in his one inning of work.

Game 2: Adelphi 1, New Haven 4
The next big arm took the hill for the 'Cats in Jordan Falco, who entered today's action with a team-leading 2.37 earned-run average as a starter.

In the second, New Haven strung together three consecutive RBI singles with two outs against the tall Adelphi right-hander, and never looked back.

While the first seven Panthers were retired in order, Jose Matos slugged his first roundtripper of the 2023 season -- a shot to left that closed the gap to 3-1.

Adelphi kept the game within reach, but also stranded key runners in scoring position. A pair of strikeouts of Anthony Cipri and Phillip D'Aguanno stalled a bases-loaded opportunity in the fifth, with the Brown and Gold trailing 4-1.

UNH closer Drew Silverman came on for the save in the seventh, and worked a clean inning to shut the door. Jacob Pedersen took the ball in a relief appearance for Adelphi in the sixth, and tallied a strikeout in a 1-2-3 inning.

The four-game series between the Panthers and Chargers wraps up with a 12 p.m. doubleheader from West Haven on Sunday (Mar. 26).