GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Northwest Nazarene baseball dropped the final two games of the series at No. 2 Colorado Mesa on Saturday, falling by scores of 5-2 and 8-0 to split the heavyweight battle 2-2 with the Mavericks.
Game One
The Mavericks struck first, knocking a home run over the wall in center in the bottom of the first inning.
NNU responded to take the lead in the top of the second, as with two outs the Nighthawks recorded four straight singles.
Rumble Reyes and
Duke Pahukoa started it off to put runners at the corners, before
Walker Moore brought home Reyes and
Ryan Dearing scored Pahukoa.
That was all the scoring the Nighthawks would do, though, as Colorado Mesa added two runs in the third and two more in the seventh to take the 5-2 victory.
Spencer Schwehr started for NNU, going six innings and allowing the five runs while striking out two.
Joseph Ihli threw two scoreless innings of relief without allowing a hit. Dearing finished with two hits, while six other Nighthawks had one hit apiece.
Game Two
The second game did not go NNU's way from the start, with CMU scoring four in the first en route to an 8-0 win.
The Nighthawks struggled on offense, managing just three hits. Two of the came during NNU's biggest threat in the sixth, as they loaded the bases with two outs on a
Ryan Dearing single,
Parker Price double, and
Haden Keller walk, but all three runners were stranded.
Colton Moore had the other hit for NNU.
Nick Irwin started on the mound and went 1.1 innings.
Brock Moffitt,
Max Holtzclaw, and
Shane Martin all pitched in relief, with Martin throwing a scoreless sixth.
Next Up
The Nighthawks will open conference play on the road next week, visiting Central Washington for four games on March 4 and 5.
