NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene baseball team dropped a nonconference game 14-5 to Lewis-Clark State on Tuesday at Elmore Vail Field.

The Nighthawks (18-16 overall) used the game to play nearly everyone on the roster, as they used nine pitchers and 12 position players

"It was an opportunity for us to give guys some opportunities who hadn't had a lot of innings or at bats," NNU coach Joe Schaefer said. "I thought we competed well. The end result wasn't great, but minus one or two innings it was pretty competitive."

NNU led 3-2 after three innings thanks to a run-scoring groundout by Shawn Grandmont, the first collegiate home run by Nathan Cassara and a run-scoring single by Steven Verdieck.

LCSC put up a five-spot in the fourth, though, to take a 7-3 lead. NNU quickly answered in the bottom half with an RBI double by Ryan Connor and a run-scoring single by Rocco Ferrari.

The Nighthawks couldn't pull anymore back, though.

"We don't play a lot of midweek games," Schaefer said. "They are tough when you have four-game weekends to have a deep enough pitching staff to really go at it."

Ferrari was 3-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a stolen base, while Cameron Duke was 3-for-5 with a run scored. Bryan Black, Bailey Daguio and Parker Price all had scoreless appearances for the Nighthawks.

NNU has just one day off before playing at conference-leading Montana State Billings on Thursday and Friday. That series was moved up a day because of weather concerns in Billings.
The Nighthawks trail the Yellowjackets by just three games in the loss column.

"As cliché as it sounds, we are just trying to win one game at a time no matter who it is," Schaefer said. "It's definitely a goal to finish as the regular season champ, but at the same time we just want to be one of the hottest teams going into the conference tournament."

The Nighthawks are in third in the GNAC with 12 games to play. They lead fourth-place Saint Martin's and Central Washington by four games in the loss column. NNU and Western Oregon have played three less conference games than everyone else because of cancelations and those games will not be made up.

Playoff positioning will be determined by conference winning percentage.

"We want to try and win every game by itself and let every game stand alone," Schaefer said. "We don't want to put too much pressure on any one series and then see what happens in the end."