ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene baseball opened GNAC play at Central Washington on Friday, splitting the first two games of the four-game series with a 14-9 loss in game one and a 6-5 win in game two.
Game One
The Nighthawks scored first on a
Grant Kerry sacrifice fly in the top of the first, but CWU tied things up in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer.
Ryan Dearing gave NNU the lead again in the second with an RBI single, making it 2-1.
CWU scored four in the third to take a 5-2 lead, but the Nighthawks stormed back with five runs in the fourth to take a 7-5 lead. In the inning, Dearing notched another RBI with a double,
Parker Price drove in a run on a sacrifice fly,
Haden Keller recorded an RBI triple, and Kerry belted a two-run homer.
The lead would not last through the inning, though, as Central Washington tallied three in the bottom of the fourth to retake the advantage 8-7. It was then a five-spot by the Wildcats in the sixth that put the game out of reach, as NNU was unable to make up the six-run deficit.
Dearing, Keller, and Kerry each had three hits, with Dearing and Kerry also picking up three RBI.
Kyle Ethridge started for the Nighthawks and gave up seven runs in three innings.
Shane Martin and
Joseph Ihli finished the game on the mound, allowing seven unearned runs between them after three Nighthawk errors.
Game Two
NNU scored first again, this time in the second inning on an RBI single from
Tyler Best.
The Nighthawks broke the game open in the fourth, tallying five runs on five hits.
Walker Moore had a two-RBI single, two runs scored on an error, and
Ryan Dearing capped it off with an RBI single to put NNU up 6-0.
The Wildcats made a bit of a comeback, scoring five runs over the final four innings, but NNU held on for the 6-5 win.
Brock Moffit started for NNU and earned the win, going four innings and allowing just an unearned run on three hits with four strikeouts.
Nick Irwin tossed the fifth and
Blake McFadden threw a scoreless sixth, but ran into some trouble in the seventh before
Max Holtzclaw came in to get the final out and earn the save.
Grant Kerry notched two more hits in game two, bringing his daily total to five.
Next Up
The Nighthawks and Wildcats will play two more games tomorrow to wrap up the series. First pitch of the opening game of the doubleheader is set for 11 a.m. Pacific.
