NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene baseball has done it. After 21 years as a member of Division II, the Nighthawks will be headed to their first-ever NCAA Championships postseason after claiming the 2021 GNAC Championship with a 9-6 victory over Central Washington on Friday.
 
Paired with an 8-2 victory on Thursday, the top-seeded Nighthawks clinched the best-of-three series with the Wildcats, earning the conference's automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Division II West Regional.
 
"God is good," said head coach Joe Schaefer after the win. "We've been talking about it all season long, that God is taking us all on a special journey and this was a huge step in the process, and now we get to go do something special next week. It's very exciting and I'm proud of these guys and all that they've done this year."
 
NNU had won the GNAC title once before in 2016, but that was prior to the conference having an automatic bid to the NCAA postseason, and the Nighthawks were not selected to participate. Not only will NNU be appearing in the West Regional this year, but they have been chosen to host it in Nampa from May 27-29. More details will follow once the entire field is determined on Sunday night.
 
The victory did not come easily on Friday afternoon, as the Nighthawks fought off a late surge by CWU to claim the title with ninth-inning heroics.
 
"These guys are grinders," said Schaefer. "It doesn't matter if we're up big or down by a couple runs, they stay positive and believe that we always have a chance to win. They buy into doing the little things at a high level, and it's translated into success."
 
After a two-hour rain delay forced back the start of the contest, NNU got on the board first in the opening inning as Shawn Grandmont drove in Ryan Dearing with a single to center.
 
The Nighthawks added four runs in the second without recording a hit, as Dearing and Haden Keller both drew bases-loaded walks, Grant Kerry was hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded, and Ben Johnson drove in Keller with a sacrifice fly.
 
That was enough to knock CWU starter Reid Rasmussen out of the game, going just one inning and not able to record any outs in the second before getting pulled. The Wildcats brought in Josh Touhey to try to stop the bleeding, and he would succeed for five innings, only allowing one NNU hit and no runs through the end of the sixth.
 
Sasha Jabusch started for NNU and went five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out four. He was replaced in the bottom of the sixth after giving up a leadoff double, and the Wildcats would cut the NNU lead to 5-4 before the inning was over.
 
John Gonzalez doubled the Nighthawk lead with a solo blast to left center in the top of the eighth, going opposite field for his 14th homer of the season that brought him into a tie for the GNAC lead on the year.
 
However, CWU did not go away, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie it. The top of the ninth begun with a strikeout, but NNU then started a rally of their own as Dearing and Keller walked to put two on with one out. After a strikeout brought CWU within one out of getting out of the jam, Kerry was the hero, drilling a double down the left-field line that scored both Dearing and Keller. Two pitches later, Johnson singled home Kerry, extending the lead to 9-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
 
NNU closer Max Holtzclaw had entered with one out in the eighth, and came back out to try to seal the victory for the Nighthawks. CWU's leadoff man reached on a single, but Holtzclaw punched out the next two hitters before a fielder's choice at shortstop put the final out in the book and started the celebration.
 
Gonzalez was named the tournament MVP, going 4-9 over the two games with two homers, three runs scored, and four RBI. "I'm really at a loss for words," said Gonzalez. "It's a great feeling to be on top right now. I wouldn't be here without every single one of my teammates, through all the ups and downs that everyone has been through this year, it's just great to be able to do it together."
 
Kerry finished with three RBI on the day to go along with his winning double, while Johnson added two RBI. Dearing, Keller, and Walker Moore all walked twice, combining for six of the Nighthawks' eight walks in the game.
 
Holtzclaw earned the victory, improving to 4-0 on the season after going 1.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three. Shane Martin tossed the 2.1 innings between Jabusch and Holtzclaw, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits with a strikeout.
 
As mentioned, NNU will now host the West Regional at Vail Field in Nampa next Thursday to Saturday. Game times are yet to be determined, as well as the other two teams that will participate in the regional bracket, which will be officially revealed during the Division II baseball selection show on Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. MT. The NCAA has recently announced that fans will be able to attend championship events according to local and state guidelines, so more information on capacity and ticketing, as well as live stream links, will be released on nnusports.com in the next few days.