NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (Interstat) — Nate Bennett pitched seven no-hit innings and the Niagara Purple Eagles defeated the Merrimack Warriors 4-0 on Saturday in the first game of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader.

Bennett struck out eight and walked two before Andrew Damiani and Luke Glenn each threw a perfect inning of relief to complete the one-hit shutout. The Warriors’ only hit came off reliever Michael Bradshaw.

Niagara scored all its runs with two-out hits. Rees Kozar had an RBI single in the third, Carmen Panaro added a run-scoring single in the fourth and Tyler ViVacqua delivered a two-run single in the seventh. ViVacqua finished with three hits and two RBIs for the Purple Eagles, who had 12 hits.

Nick Hunkele took the loss for Merrimack, allowing two runs over six innings. Niagara improved to 2-9, while Merrimack fell to 3-6.