GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Northwest Nazarene freshman Kyle Ethridge had his second consecutive solid start and the Nighthawks took advantage of some miscues to upset No. 3 Colorado Mesa 10-2 on Saturday.

Ethridge threw six shutout innings, allowing five hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Nick Irwin pitched two scoreless innings and Max Holtzclaw allowed two runs in the ninth to finish the win off.

"Our boys did a good job today," NNU coach Joe Schaefer said. "We made some good offensive adjustments and we got some very good pitching.

"It was nice to get out of there with a win against a very good team and it was great preparation for conference play."

The Nighthawks (2-6 overall) scored nine runs in the fourth thanks to six hits and six Mesa errors.

John Gonzalez led off with a single and after a fly out, Shawn Grandmont singled. Haden Keller then reached on an error to load the bases. Isaac Hines delivered a two-run double to make it 2-0.

Kyle Gracey then singled in a run and Hines scored on a throwing error to make it 4-0. After a groundout, Ryan Dearing singled to the pitcher, who then threw the ball away allowing a runner to score.

Parker Price and Gonzalez then walked to load the bases and Shawn Grandmont reached on a fielder's choice. Price and Dearing scored on a throwing error by the shortstop.

Grandmont then stole second and Gonzalez eventually scored on a fielding error by the third baseman.

Haden Keller then doubled in a run before Hines grounded out to finally end the inning.

NNU got its final run in the ninth on a triple by Grandmont and a sacrifice fly by Alex Salsman.

Dearing finished 2-for-4, Hines had two RBIs and Price, Gonzalez, Grandmont, Quentin Ayers, Keller, Hines and Gracey each had a hit.

NNU is off next week before opening conference play at home against Central Washington with a doubleheader on Friday, March 6 at 3 p.m.