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2
Northwest Nazarene NNU-BB 30-21
5
Winner Western Ore. WOU 34-18
Northwest Nazarene NNU-BB
30-21
2
Final
5
Western Ore. WOU
34-18
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Northwest Nazarene NNU-BB 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 8 3
Western Ore. WOU 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 5 6 1

W: Bond,Bryce (3-1) L: Moffitt, Brock (4-3) S: Dunaway,Matthew (4)

bb-5-14
Amanda Loman

Game Recap: Baseball | | NNU Athletic Communications

NNU Falls to Western Oregon in GNAC Title Game

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Northwest Nazarene baseball came up short in the final game of the 2022 GNAC Championships, falling to Western Oregon 5-2.
 
After the loss, the Nighthawks (30-21) will now need to wait and see if their name will be called for an at-large bid to the NCAA West Regional during the selection show release on Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. MT on NCAA.com. NNU was ranked fourth in the latest regional rankings that were released by the NCAA on Wednesday, with the top six in Sunday's final rankings qualifying for the NCAA postseason.
 
After all three teams in the GNAC Championships went 1-1 on day one on Friday, with the top seed NNU advanced to Saturday's title game and Western Oregon had to beat Montana State Billings and the Nighthawks to claim the title. Playing on their home field, the Wolves took down MSUB 7-2 before defeating NNU for the crown and auto bid to regionals.
 
WOU (34-18) struck first in the title game, as Jacob Maiben led off the bottom of the first with a single and then came all the way around to score on Derek Maiben's single to center that got past the NNU center fielder for an error.
 
The Wolves came back for more in the second, tallying four runs on three hits and an error. The first three batters reached on two singles and a walk, and then a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch brought home the second run of the game. Two sacrifice flies and an RBI single scored three more runs, with two coming as unearned after a throwing error on the Nighthawks right fielder with one out.
 
Ryan Dearing picked up NNU's first hit of the game in the top of the third and advanced all the way around to third base, but was stranded there.
 
The Nighthawks would break through for a pair of runs in the fifth, starting with Grant Kerry and Rumble Reyes notching back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. Kyle Payne then earned an RBI with a fielder's choice and would eventually come around to score on an RBI single from Tyler Best.
 
After NNU starter Brock Moffitt was pulled with just 1.1 innings and five runs (two earned) allowed, the bullpen did their job to keep the Nighthawks in the game. Nick Irwin and Blake McFadden each went 2.2 scoreless innings in relief, allowing just one hit and tallying seven strikeouts between them. Max Holtzclaw pitched the final 1.1 innings and retired all four batters he faced via strikeout.
 
Unfortunately, the Nighthawks were not able to get anything going offensively in the final innings, with just one batter reaching base in the last three frames.
 
As mentioned, NNU will now wait to see if their season will continue at the NCAA West Regional when the selections are announced on Sunday night.
 
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Scoring Summary

Score By Innings
Play NNU-BB WOU
WOU BOT 1st Maiben,D singled, advanced to second on the throw (0-0); Maiben,J advanced to third, scored on a fielding error by cf, unearned. 0 1
WOU BOT 2nd Weston hit by pitch, RBI (0-0); Zellner advanced to second; Moniz advanced to third; Holstad scored. 0 2
WOU BOT 2nd Cummings flied out to rf, SF, RBI (1-0 B); Weston advanced to second; Zellner advanced to third on a throwing error by rf; Moniz scored. 0 3
WOU BOT 2nd Maiben,J singled to third base, RBI (1-1 BF); Weston advanced to third; Zellner scored, unearned. 0 4
WOU BOT 2nd Maiben,D flied out to rf, SF, RBI (1-1 KB); Weston scored, unearned. 0 5
NNU-BB TOP 5th Payne reached on a fielder's choice, RBI (0-0); Reyes out at second 2b to ss; Kerry scored. 1 5
NNU-BB TOP 5th Best singled up the middle, RBI (1-2 BKSFF); Price advanced to second; Payne scored. 2 5

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