JOPLIN, Mo. – The Raven Baseball team led early against MNU in the first round of the 2015 Heart Championship Series before the Pioneers broke the game open with a five-run second and a five-run fourth.

MNU (31-19) used a five-run seventh to end the game early, earning a 15-5 win over Benedictine (13-32) in seven innings.

After drawing a game-opening walk, Brenden Watamaniuk scored the first run of the game off a Chris Johnson RBI single.

Austin Harrison held the Pioneers in check at the plate in the first inning before running into trouble in the second inning.

Harrison went three and two-thirds innings before giving way to a trio of Raven relievers to suffer the loss. He gave up nine runs off eight hits.

Casey Splane, Ben Underhill and Curtis Marchand finished off the game giving up six more runs.

Johnson led the effort at the plate with a 2-for-4 effort. Matthew Jarecki, Paul Heit and Christian Patterson each recorded an RBI while Watamaniuk finished with two runs scored.

Benedictine takes on Culver-Stockton College at 1 p.m. Friday in an the second elimination game of the consolation bracket. The Wildcats fell in game four of the Championship Series 8-5 to Missouri Valley College.

Friday's Ravens-Wildcats match up marks the third time this season the two schools will face off. Benedictine earned a pair of wins to open conference play against Culver-Stockton back on March 14, winning both games on Laughlin Field by a 5-4 score.