CHICO, Calif. – The Northwest Nazarene University baseball team was four outs away from taking two of three from the No. 9 ranked team in the country on their field.
But the Nighthawks couldn't get out of trouble in the eighth inning, falling 6-5 to Chico State on Saturday.

Chico State scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally from a 5-3 deficit and steal the win.

"Opportunities to take two of three from a top 10 team in the country don't too often," NNU coach Rocke Musgraves said, "so it's disappointing. We'll spend the next few days at practice working on the little things."

Chico got a one-out walk from Myles Moran and after a failed bunt attempt, Tyler Stofiel was hit by a pitch and then Dustin Miller blasted a three-run home run to right field.

The Nighthawks (2-4) went down in order in the ninth.

"We're giving up way too many free bases and not putting the ball in play enough," Musgraves said. "When we get better in those two areas we will find ourselves on the other end of those one-run games."

Trailing 1-0 after the first inning, the Nighthawks tied the game on a Ben Johnson RBI double. NNU tied the game again on a Justin Folz single in the fourth and then took a 5-2 lead in the seventh, as Parker Price hit a run-scoring single and Kyle Redford delivered a two-run single.

Redford finished 2-for-5 with the two RBIs, while Price was 2-for-5 with one RBI. Zach Penrod finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while Folz and Johnson added two hits apiece.

Greg Casper (0-1) took the loss in relief, allowing three runs on four hits in two innings. Zach Penrod gave up two runs on two hits in three innings as the starter, while Cooper Webster allowed one run on one hit in three innings of relief.

The Nighthawks travel to Colorado State Pueblo for a three-game set Thursday-Saturday.