MONMOUTH, Ore. - For the second-straight season, Northwest Nazarene baseball finished atop the GNAC regular season standings and will take the top overall seed into the GNAC Championships this weekend.

The championships are set to take place on Thursday and Friday, May 12-13, at WOU Baseball Field on the campus of Western Oregon University. NNU and WOU tied for first in the GNAC standings, but the Nighthawks receive the tiebreaker for the top overall seed due to their record against Montana State Billings. WOU will be the 2-seed and MSUB the 3-seed.

The GNAC Championships will begin Thursday with three games in a round robin format: Western Oregon vs. MSUB at 10 a.m., Northwest Nazarene vs. MSUB at 1 p.m., and Northwest Nazarene vs. Western Oregon at 4 p.m. with all start times Pacific.

After day one, if teams are 2-0, 1-1 and 0-2, the 0-2 team is eliminated and the remaining teams will play on Friday. If there is a 1-1 tie after day one, the No. 1 team will automatically advance to the championship game. The No. 2 and 3 seeds will play a loser out game on Friday at noon.

Advance daily session tickets are available for purchase at GNACtickets.com and are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for seniors, students and children ages 6-14. Daily session tickets at the gate are priced at $12 for adults and $7 for seniors, students and children ages 6-14. Children 5 and under are free. Daily session tickets include admission to all games each day.

Northwest Nazarene (29-19 overall) enters hitting .274 as a team with a 4.26 ERA. The Nighthawks' offense possesses a unique blend of contact and power, hitting tied for the most home runs in the conference (44) while striking out the fewest times (304, 40 less than the next-lowest team). 

Shortstop Parker Price is seventh in the conference with a .320 batting average and fourth with 41 RBIs. Duke Pahukoa ranks third in the GNAC with a .556 slugging percentage and tied for fifth with eight home runs. Grant Kerry is tied for second with nine home runs and third with 11 stolen bases.

On the mound, Haden Keller is second among qualified pitchers in the conference with a 3.40 ERA and fourth with 63 strikeouts. Relievers Max Holtclaw and Blake McFadden are one and two on the team in ERA at 2.05 and 2.09, respectively, while also first and second in the GNAC in saves with 11 and four. Holtzclaw's 11 saves are also ninth in the country.

In the 2021 GNAC Championships, Western Oregon was supposed to be the two-seed but had to withdraw due to COVID. Top-seed NNU and 3-seed Central Washington then played a best-of-three series for the title, with the Nighthawks taking the first two games 8-2 and 9-6 to claim the title. 

Against the other two teams in the tournament this season, the Nighthawks went 4-4 against Western Oregon (3-1 in Nampa, 1-3 in Monmouth) and 6-2 against Montana State Billings (4-0 in Nampa, 2-2 in Billings).
 

Full Schedule
*all times Pacific

Thursday, May 12
Game 1: No. 2 Western Oregon vs. No. 3 MSU Billings, 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 1 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 3 MSU Billings, 1 p.m.
Game 3: No. 1 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 2 Western Oregon, 4 p.m.

Friday, May 13
Game 4: Teams TBD, 12 p.m.
Game 5: Teams TBD, 3 p.m. (if necessary)