ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene baseball team is officially on a roll.

The Nighthawks swept a GNAC doubleheader Saturday against Central Washington, winning 8-2 in the opener and 9-4 in the nightcap.

The wins give NNU (15-13 overall, 11-9 GNAC) six in its last eight games and puts it in third place halfway through the league season.

"These guys are doing a great job and I think they are as good as anyone when we play well," NNU coach Joe Schaefer said. "It is just a matter of finding some consistency so we can play well every game and every weekend."

In the opener, Jesse Hilyard (4-0) fired seven shutout innings scattering eight hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Kyle Redford then made his collegiate debut at pitcher, allowing one run and Parker Price finished the game off with an inning.

Price was 2-for-5 at the plate with two runs and two RBIs, Redford was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI and Bennett Tabaracci, Rocco Ferrari and Michael Hults all drove in runs. NNU had eight singles and drew nine walks in the game.

"It's kind of been our philosophy from the get go – we want to be able to score without hits and our baserunning has been doing a good job of creating run-scoring opportunities," Schaefer said. "To be able to draw a walk and swipe a bag or move up on a bounced ball and then you can score with a sac fly or a groundout or a wild pitch."

In the nightcap, reliever Jalen Fuhriman escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam inducing a popup and a groundout after entering with one out and the bases full in the sixth and an 8-4 lead.

"We had to get crafty that second game," Schaefer said. "We wanted to utilize Parker and his arm was feeling good, so we got two more innings out of him. Ben (Johnson) was sharp for four innings and then he kind of just hit a wall and they started hitting him a bit.

"Then Jalen came in and slammed the door and did a great job."

Johnson (3-3) earned the win, while Fuhriman picked up his first save of the season. Price pitched two shutout innings while performing the role of opener.

Ferrari and Johnson each drove in two runs, while Redford and Cure each had one RBI.

"It'd be nice to have 10 or 15 hits every game," Schaefer said, "but at this level there are pretty good arms and you have to find ways to score without hits."

The Nighthawks head to Western Oregon for four games next weekend. NNU took three-of-four from the Wolves in Nampa.

It'll be the first time Schaefer has coached a team through a home-and-home schedule. When he was at Point Loma in the PacWest, they just played everyone one weekend.

"There is a lot you learn first time through," he said. "It will be interesting to see how things change."