OAKLAND, Calif. – The Northwest Nazarene baseball team used strong pitching and timely hitting Friday to sweep the Academy of Art in a nonconference doubleheader.

The Nighthawks (3-3 overall) won the opener 12-4 and the nightcap 6-3 in 10 innings.

"We pitched really, really well today and I think that is the ultimate reason we got two Ws," NNU coach Joe Schaefer said. "Any time you can win the first two games of a series is huge."

In the nightcap, the Urban Knights (7-2) had two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth but Jalen Fuhriman escaped the jam and NNU scored three times in extras to grab the win.

In the 10th, Parker Price walked, Shawn Grandmont singled, Jesse Hilyer walked and with two outs Bennett Tabaracci hit an infield single to drive in the go ahead run. A passed ball allowed another run to score and then Ryan Berry drove in a run with a walk.

Fuhriman pitched three scoreless innings to earn the win in relief of Ben Johnson, who gave up three runs in seven innings with no walks and four strikeouts.

Tabaracci finished 2-for-5, while Grandmont was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Kyle Redford was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

"They pitched outstanding," Schaefer said of Johnson and Fuhriman. "Both of those guys did a good job of attacking hitters and getting ahead in counts. We didn't make an error in the second game and we didn't give away a lot of baserunners. We forced them to hit their way into scoring runs."

In the opener, with the game tied at 3-3 after six innings the Nighthawks exploded for nine runs over the final three innings.

In the seventh, Price hit a two-run, two-out single and Redford added a run-scoring double for a 6-3 lead.

After a scoreless eighth, NNU scored six times in the ninth.

Price hit an RBI double, Hilyard walked in a run, Tabaracci had a two-run double and Rocco Ferrari added a two-run double.

Nick Irwin earned the win in relief, allowing one unearned run on two hits in 2 2/3 innings pitched. Starter Blake McFadden allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3.

"Blake pitched pretty well and Nick Irwin did a great job the final three innings," Schaefer said. "Offensively, it took us a little while to get going but we started to make some adjustments and got rewarded for it."

The Nighthawks and Urban Knights play another doubleheader Saturday.