NAMPA, Idaho – Unbelievable. Trailing by three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Northwest Nazarene baseball came back to stun Western Oregon 7-5 and force a decisive Game 5 of the NCAA DII West Regional on Saturday at noon.
 
Through eight innings, the Nighthawks only had one hit and trailed 5-2. After two outs to open the ninth, Grant Kerry and Ben Johnson both singled to bring the tying run to the plate in senior first baseman John Gonzalez, who hit a three-run blast over the left-field wall to tie the game.
 
Quentin Ayers came in to pinch-hit and was hit by a pitch to represent the winning run, and then junior designated hitter Alex Salsman hit the game-winning homer to right-center.
 
WOU would have claimed the regional title with a win, but now Saturday's game will be a winner-take-all affair with a berth in the DII Baseball Championships on the line.
 
Western Oregon took an early 2-0 lead in the fourth with back-to-back solo home runs to left by Connor McCord and Josh Berman. Berman hit a three-run shot to left in the fifth to give the Wolves a five-run lead.
 
Northwest Nazarene punched back in the sixth as Shawn Grandmont ripped a two-run triple to right-center for NNU's first hit to score Haden Keller and Walker Moore.
 
Nighthawks starter Spencer Schwehr allowed two earned runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. Blake McFadden entered the game in the sixth and silenced the Wolves' bats, allowing just one hit while walking one and striking out four in 3.1 innings.
 
Max Holtzclaw picked up the win to improve to 5-1 on the season. He tossed just two-thirds of an inning in the ninth, striking out both of the batters he faced to help snap the Wolves' 10-game winning streak.
 
The winner of Saturday's game will be the first-ever GNAC team to advance to the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championships, which will be played on June 5-12 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.