BOX SCORE

Northern Iowa 10, Vermont 2

BRADENTON, Fla. -- In the 2003 baseball season opener, Vermont fell to Northern Iowa, 10-2, at the IMG Complex on Friday night.

In addition to the opener, it was the first action outside, game or practice, for the Catamounts who had three games in the Philadelphia Baseball Classic canceled last weekend due to the lingering winter weather.

After spotting the Panthers (5-7) single runs in the first and second innings, UVM got on the board in the third. With two outs Raymond Montanez walked and then Jeff Barry singled. Jason Carey walked to load the bases and Barry Chamberland tied the game driving in Montanez and Barry with a single to left.

UNI reclaimed the lead with a run in the fourth and then broke it open with three in the fifth when Vermont made a pair of errors. The Panthers closed it out with four more in the eighth on Adam Boeve’s grand slam. Boeve finished the day going 3-for-5 with five RBI and two stolen bases.

Of Vermont’s seven hits, Chamberland went 3-for-4 and Barry, last season’s America East batting champion, went 2-for-4. Freshman Kyle Brault of Milton went 1-for-4 in his collegiate debut. Sophomore lefty Derek Miller started for the Cats, went four innings (4 H, 4 BB, 2 K) and suffered the loss. Senior Jeff Dixon had a solid outing with two innings of scoreless relief.

The Catamounts play Bucknell on Saturday at 2:30pm in day two of their Florida trip.