NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene University baseball team was swept by Central Washington on Monday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader at Elmore W. Vail Field.

The Nighthawks (2-12 overall, 0-4 GNAC) lost the opener 6-4 in 10 innings and the nightcap 10-7 sending them to their 10th consecutive loss.

"We have to find a way to get those last nine outs of the ballgame," NNU coach Rocke Musgraves said. "Right now might be a case of people trying too hard, which happens a lot with young people."

NNU's bullpen gave up a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning of the opener and after the offense rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings, the Wildcats immediately scored twice in the 10th to win it.

In the nightcap, NNU had leads of 3-1 and 6-3 evaporate.

"We are going to keep working hard," Musgraves said. "It is still very early in the season. We have the personnel to have the right people come in and get the outs, we just have to find a way to get 96 outs in a weekend and we are going to do that."

Brennan Patterson was a bright spot on the mound for the Nighthawks, throwing five scoreless innings while allowing two hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

"It doesn't surprise me," Musgraves said. "He has that type of ability. He has three pitches he can throw for strikes and when he is throwing at least two of those, you are not going to get a lot of consecutive hits off of him.

"We have some guys who do that, we just have to get them back on track."

In the opener, Kyle Redford homered with one out in the ninth to pull the Nighthawks within 4-3. Zach Penrod then hit a two-run double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

In the 10th, the Wildcats made two quick outs before Michael Heinevetter walked and Yi-Fan Pan blasted a two-run homer to left field.

Casey Sheehan was 2-for-5 with an RBI, Penrod was 2-for-5 and Ryan Connor was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Adam Paulson (1-2) took the loss.

In the nightcap, Jesse Hilyard hit a two-run homer to give NNU an early 3-1 lead in the second. After Central scored twice in the third to tie the game, the Nighthawks came right back with a Penrod sacrifice fly, Justin Folz stole home on a delayed double steal and Haden Keller tripled in a run to make it 6-3.

Central answered again in the fifth with three runs to tie the game, but Folz hit a sacrifice fly for a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

The Wildcats then scored three times in the sixth to ice the game.

"Hitting is something that doesn't show up every game," Musgraves said. "We are going to have to learn to win some of those 3-2 or 2-1 games once in a while, but I'm pleased with the way we are swinging the bats."

Folz finished 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored, while Redford also scored two runs. Ben Johnson added a double and an RBI. Cooper Webster (0-2) took the loss in relief.

NNU is scheduled to play at Saint Martin's in a pair of doubleheaders Friday and Saturday.