BILLINGS, Mont. - Northwest Nazarene baseball defeated Montana State Billings twice on Friday with wins of 6-2 and 11-5.

The 10th-ranked Nighthawks improve to 21-5 on the year and 15-3 in GNAC play, including a 6-0 record against the Yellowjackets.

NNU and MSUB will play two more games tomorrow to close out the series.

Game One: NNU 6, MSUB 2

Kyle Ethridge dominated on the mound in game one, going seven innings and allowing just three hits and two unearned runs while striking out 10. Those two unearned runs were all that MSUB would manage as well, as Shane Martin came in to throw two scoreless frames to preserve the win.

NNU went down 1-0 in the second inning, but bounced back with three runs in the third on a Ryan Dearing RBI single, Dearing scoring on a wild pitch, and then Ben Johnson notching an RBI single.

The Nighthawks would add three more in the seventh as Colton Moore launched a two-run homer and Shawn Grandmont scored on a wild pitch. Dearing and Grandmont both finished with two hits in the victory.

Game Two: NNU 11, MSUB 5

NNU's bats provided plenty in the second game, plating three in the third, four in the fifth, two in the sixth, and two in the seventh. MSUB got on the board first with three in the bottom of the first inning, but RBIs from Dearing, Moore, and Grandmont knotted the score at three in the third.

Grandmont gave the Nighthawks the lead in the fifth on a sacrifice fly to center, and then Alex Salsman broke the game open with a three-run homer to left. The Yellowjackets got one back in the bottom of the inning on a solo shot, but that was as close as they would come with NNU scoring four more times before the final out. 

Walker Moore was a perfect 4-4 from the plate, scoring three times, while Salsman was 3-4 with the three RBI on the homer. Dearing and Colton Moore each had two hits as well. 

Sasha Jabusch started for NNU, going six innings and allowing four runs while striking out seven. Haden Keller tossed the final inning to close out the win.