PORTLAND, Ore. – The Northwest Nazarene baseball team split a doubleheader Saturday at Concordia to earn a Great Northwest Athletic Conference series-opening win.

The Nighthawks dropped the first game 4-2 before winning the second game 4-1.

"Getting a series win to open up conference play is a big deal," NNU coach Joe Schaefer said. Especially on the road. So, we are happy with that."

Jesse Hilyard threw 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in the second game to earn his first win of the season, striking out four and walking one. Jalen Fuhriman and Jonathan Ringer combined to close it out with Ringer earning the save.

"Hilyard threw very well," Schaefer said. "Eventually that is the type of game he'll finish on his own, but being early in the year we are trying to build him up a little bit."
Kyle Redford had a monster day offensively.

He was 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs with two doubles and a triple in the nightcap. He doubled in a run in the first and tripled in a run in the fifth. Hilyard added an RBI double, while Rocco Ferrari had an RBI single. Ferrari finished 2-for-3.

In the opener, Cooper Webster took the loss allowing four runs – three earned – on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings pitched.

Larsson Chapman and Parker Price each had RBIs as NNU (7-5 overall, 3-1 GNAC) scratched out just four hits on the day, though Redford was up with two on and two outs in the top of the ninth. He struck out to end the game.

"We had a really hard time making offensive adjustments," Schaefer said of the opener. "That's going to be something we have to work on going forward, is to be more consistent with our plan and approach.

"It was freezing cold and the wind was blowing in hard. Any ball hit in the air was an adventure and each of us dropped a couple of pop ups. It was a miserable day to hit."

NNU returns home to host Montana State Billings for four games Friday and Saturday. First pitch is 3 p.m. MST on Friday.