LACEY, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene baseball bounced back from Thursday's defeats with a 5-2 victory in game three of the series on Friday, but fell in the fourth and final game 5-4 after a furious Saint Martin's comeback.
NNU moves to 24-16 overall and 16-8 in GNAC play.
Game One
NNU got on the board first in the second inning, as
Tyler Best doubled to center field and drove in both
Kyle Payne and
Alex Salsman. The Saints got one back in the bottom of the inning following a 40-minute weather delay, getting an RBI triple with two outs.
Best came up clutch again just one inning later, driving in two more runs on a one-out single to right. A few batters later, a bases-loaded walk to
Parker Price brought home another run to make it 5-1.
Saint Martin's tallied one more run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double with two outs, but that was all they would get, as NNU starter
Haden Keller locked the Saints down the rest of the way to earn the 5-2 complete-game victory.
A week removed from his no-hitter against CWU, Keller finished with just four hits and two runs allowed in nine innings of work, also striking out seven.
Best and Salsman each had two hits for NNU, with Best recording four of the Nighthawks' five RBIs.
Game Two
NNU struck first again in the second inning, and it was Best yet again as the outfielder scored
Rumble Reyes from third with an RBI groundout. After
Colton Moore drew a walk to put runners on first and third, Moore stole second and Payne was able to race home from third on the throw.
Price then capped the inning with an RBI single up the middle, scoring Moore to put the Nighthawks up 3-0.
NNU extended their lead to 4-0 in the sixth as Payne drove in
Cameron Bogard with an RBI groundout.
The Saints would mount a comeback for the ages, however, scoring five runs (four unearned) in the bottom of the seventh to take a walkoff 5-4 win.
Blake McFadden started for NNU and held SMU hitless through three innings, allowing just one baserunner on a walk.
Shane Martin entered in relief and got through three innings unscathed, but allowed two runs in the seventh before he was pulled.
Max Holtzclaw got two outs in the seventh but couldn't close the door before the Saints took the win.
NNU finished with just six hits, all coming from different players.
Next Up
The Nighthawks and will remain on the road next weekend, visiting Western Oregon for four games on April 22 and 23. After that, NNU comes back to Nampa to wrap up the regular season with a series against Montana State Billings.
