Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NAMPA, Idaho – After everything the Northwest Nazarene University baseball team has been through this season, they still have a chance.

From an 11-game losing streak to injuries to up and down performances by the offense the pitching staff, it's been a roller coaster year for the Nighthawks. But they still trail Concordia by just one game for the final spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.

"We could have sat down and died at the beginning of the year during the losing streak," Dylan Cure said, "but we fought the whole year. We never gave up and we put ourselves in a position to go to the playoffs now, so I'm very excited about (Friday)."

NNU (18-30 overall, 16-22 GNAC) dropped Thursday's opener 9-5 before winning the nightcap 10-8 against Western Oregon. The Nighthawks will likely need to sweep Friday's games and then hope Saint Martin's can help out with some wins against fourth-place Concordia.

"We had our backs against the wall," Cure said. "We did what we had to do to win (Game 2). It was huge. It keeps us alive and playing for something."

After dropping the opener, things looked dire in the nightcap as Jacob Martinez hit Greg Casper's first pitch over the left-field wall for a home run. NNU trailed 2-0 after two innings, before putting up an eight-spot in the third.

Bennett Tabaracci and Coltin Brink drew one-out walks, Parker Price was hit by a pitch and then Justin Folz ripped a bases-clearing triple down the right-field line for a 3-2 lead.

Zach Penrod then singled him home for a 4-2 lead. Casey Sheehan was hit by a pitch and Kyle Redford walked to load the bases again. Cure singled through the right side for a 6-2 lead and then he and Redford stole second and third.

Jesse Hilyard then hit another two-run single for an 8-2 lead.

"I was seeing the ball well today," Folz said. "I really needed to come through at the plate today for the team and I felt like I did, so that was a good thing."

The teams traded two runs in the fifth inning as Penrod homered to left center and Hilyard hit a sacrifice fly to make it 10-4.

Western Oregon scored three times in the sixth and once in the seventh and had the go-ahead run at the plate with one out, but Hilyard escaped the jam with a pair of strikeouts for his third save of the season.

"Things were starting to tighten up," NNU coach Rocke Musgraves said, "and he relaxed and just does what Jesse does."

Now the Nighthawks have to find a way to take two games off the second-place team in the conference. NNU has only swept a doubleheader once this season.

"We just have to stay in the zone with our pitchers, make all the plays in the field and basically just play our best baseball we have all year," Cure said. "I think we've responded well every time we've had our backs against the wall. We have to come out with that fire and that intensity."

In the opener, Western Oregon scored six times in the second inning and led 8-0 after three.

The Nighthawks chipped away as Redford hit a solo shot in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the sixth. Cure then unloaded on a three-run homer over the right center-field wall to make it 9-5, but NNU did not get any closer.

Now the Nighthawks have to hope they play better Friday in potentially their final two games of the season.

"Until the last strike of the last inning of the last game, we're going to fight," Musgraves said. "We don't care what the situation is. You can't accept anything less than that or you can't look yourself in the mirror, in my opinion.

"You have to play hard all the time. Our guys will do that (Friday)."