ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Northwest Nazarene baseball team lost 3-2 to Dixie State on Thursday in its season opener.

While new coach Joe Schaefer would've liked to open with a win, it's hard to complain about the play of the Nighthawks against the Trailblazers on the road.

"I thought we competed pretty well," said Schaefer, who spent the last 15 years at Point Loma in San Diego, Calif. "We made mistakes, as is to be expected, but for the most part we competed against a good team and a good pitcher."

NNU had a chance to tie the game or take the lead in the eighth inning, loading the bases with one out.

Jesse Hilyard walked and stole second. Ben Johnson then reached on an error and Cameron Duke walked to load the bases.

But Dixie State reliever Jimmy Borzone struck out Rocco Ferrari on a 2-2 pitch and got Michael Hults looking on a 1-2 offering.

"I think that is something we'll get better at as the season progresses," Schaefer said. "I expect the pitching to be ahead of the hitting at this point in the season, but that is something we will good at and it will be a point of pride – making sure we score runs with less than two outs and runners in scoring position."

Hilyard homered to left field in the second to tie the game at 1-1. NNU took a brief lead in the fourth as Parker Price singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Kyle Redford groundout.

Starter Blake McFadden (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs – one earned – on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts and two hit batsmen in six innings.

"I thought he pitched really well," Schaefer said. "He was making some really good pitches at the bottom of the zone that we weren't getting calls on and that makes it tough on a fastball-changeup guy. That forces you to throw the ball up in the zone a little bit and you can get hit around when that happens.

"He made pitches when he needed to."

The Trailblazers (4-1) tied the game in the fourth when their leadoff runner reached on an error. A pair of singles loaded the bases before McFadden induced a 5-3 double play, trading the run for two outs. He then got a fly out to escape the jam.

Dixie State took the lead for good in the sixth when Jake Engel hit an 0-2 pitch over the center field wall.

Jalen Fuhriman struck out two in two innings of relief for NNU.

Ferrari, Price and Hilyard had the only hits for the Nighthawks as Dixie State's Jayden Murray (2-0) earned the win, striking out five in seven innings.

NNU faces Dixie State at 11:30 a.m. Friday and Colorado Mesa at 6:30 p.m. Friday.