NAMPA, Idaho - One more win. That is all that Northwest Nazarene baseball needs to clinch their first-ever NCAA Championships berth after taking game one of the GNAC Championship series 8-2 over Central Washington on Thursday.

The Nighthawks and Wildcats will square off again at noon tomorrow, and an NNU win would earn the Nighthawks the GNAC automatic qualifier into the NCAA postseason next weekend. It would be the Nighthawks' second GNAC title, but first coming with that automatic bid.

A CWU win would force a decisive game three, set to begin around half an hour after the conclusion of game two if necessary.

Freshman phenom Kyle Ethridge was the story of the game one victory on Thursday, improving to 6-1 on the mound this year with seven strong innings of work. The First Team All-GNAC performer allowed just two runs on three hits while striking out seven. Blake McFadden wrapped the game up in short order with two shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out three.

NNU's bats struck first, with senior John Gonzalez crushing a two-run homer against the wind in right-center that scored Ben Johnson for a 2-0 lead. CWU would get one back in the top of the fourth with a solo homer, but NNU responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Alex Salsman to go back up by two.

The Wildcats cut the deficit to one again with a run in the fifth. NNU would pull away in the later innings, though, scoring three in the sixth and two in the eighth to claim the 8-2 victory.

Walker Moore was 3-4 from the plate with two RBI, while Gonzalez finished with two hits and three RBI. Johnson also had two hits for the Nighthawks.