Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene baseball play opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Friday with a victory against Central Washington.

The Nighthawks won the opener 10-4, while the nightcap was suspended in the top of the eighth tied 3-3 because of darkness. It will be resumed at 12 p.m. MST on Saturday before the scheduled doubleheader.

"We did a lot of things well in that first game, which was really encouraging," NNU coach Joe Schaefer said. "Losing six of our first eight, even though they were against really good teams is tough to swallow. These guys understand they are good and can compete with anybody."

In the opener, Ben Johnson pitched six strong innings to earn his first victory of the season. He allowed two runs – one earned – on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Nick Irwin, Eryk Lopez and Ty Hueckman closed it out.

The game was tied 0-0 heading into the top of the fourth when Kyle Gracey hit a run-scoring single and scored on a base hit by Kyle Payne.

After Central got a run back in the bottom half, Shawn Grandmont hit a one-out homer to make it 3-1. Alex Salsman and Haden Keller then hit two-out singles and Gracey crushed a home run to left center for a 6-1 lead.

Payne homered in the seventh and had another run-scoring single in the ninth. The four hits for Payne were the first of his collegiate career. Parker Price added a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

"We had a lot of guys have good games," Schaefer said. "This is why you play good teams early in nonconference to prepare yourself for conference play. The guys have seen some really good arms and they were ready to go."

Gracey finished 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs, Payne was 4-for-5 with three RBIs, Quentin Ayers was 3-for-5 with a run, Keller was 2-for-5 with two runs and Price was 2-for-4 with the RBI.

In the nightcap, the Nighthawks (3-6 overall, 1-0 GNAC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Price and another solo home run by Grandmont. Central battled back to tie it in the bottom half, but left runners at the corners with one out as Blake McFadden got a strikeout to escape the jam.

In the top of the sixth, Grandmont struck out but reached on a passed ball allowing Colton Moore to score for a 3-2 lead.

Central (3-8, 0-1) again responded, scoring on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning.

The Nighthawks loaded the bases in the top of the seventh with two outs, but Grandmont flew out to center.

McFadden allowed three runs on five hits in 5.1 innings pitched, walking none and striking out five. Max Holtzclaw is the pitcher of record for NNU after he walked two and struck out one in 1.2 otherwise clean innings.

Johnson is 2-for-3, while Price, Grandmont, Keller, Gracey and Cody Nisbet each have a hit.

"Their starter was really good. He had some pace and a good breaking ball," Schaefer said. "We made a lot of mistakes – we got picked off first base for no reason and we sailed a cutoff guy from the outfield on a play we didn't have a shot at home, allowing a runner to move up.

"Just some bonehead things we should have cleaned up by now. Hopefully we get that addressed and play a little better tomorrow."