SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Northwest Nazarene baseball will look to make some noise at the NCAA West Regional this weekend, battling with top seed Point Loma and 5-seed Cal Poly Pomona for a chance to advance to Super Regionals.

NNU earned the at-large bid with a 30-21 overall record and a very strong strength of schedule despite falling to Western Oregon in the GNAC Championships last weekend. 

NNU is the 4-seed, and are in San Diego to square off against Point Loma and Cal Poly Pomona. Two-seed Azusa Pacific, 3-seed Cal State Monterey Bay, and 6-seed Western Oregon also received bids for the regional, with Azusa serving as the host of that pod. Winners of each pod will head to Super Regionals and play a best-of-three series next weekend for the chance to go to the eight-team DII Baseball Championships in Cary, North Carolina.

The Nighthawks will open against Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday, May 19 at 11 a.m. Pacific / 12 p.m. Mountain. The loser of game one will then take on Point Loma in game two. Regardless of a win or a loss, Point Loma will then play the winner of the first game in game three. With there being three teams in a double elimination pod, the scenarios can be a bit confusing, but here is the explanation from the NCAA on what follows after the first few games:

- If two teams remain after game two, games three to five will be a best-of-three series between the remaining teams to determine the advancing team to Super Regionals.
- If two teams remain after game three, the remaining teams will play in game four. The team that is 2-0 would win the regional title with a game four win. If the 1-1 team wins game four, then the same teams will play again in game five to determine the advancing team.
- If three teams remain and are each 1-1 after game three, then NNU and Cal Poly Pomona will play in game four. The winner of game four will then face Point Loma in a winner-take-all game five for a chance to head to Super Regionals.

Nighthawks Notes
NNU enters the regional with a 30-21 overall mark and finished the regular season with a 21-11 GNAC record. The Nighthawks were co-regular season GNAC Champs along with Western Oregon and went into the GNAC Championships as the top seed, but fell to the Wolves in the title game. The strength of NNU's non-conference schedule was good enough to keep them highly regarded in the eyes of the committee, however, earning the third at-large bid and fourth seed in the West Region.

This will be just NNU's second appearance in the NCAA postseasons for baseball, with the first coming last season when they made it all the way to the DII Championships in Cary and won a game there to finish sixth in the nation. With the CCAA not participating in sports last spring, the regional was trimmed to just three total teams with NNU hosting Azusa Pacific and Western Oregon. NNU dropped their first game, but then rattled off three-straight dramatic wins to advance to the national championships.

As a team, the Nighthawks are third in the region with a 3.96 ERA, seventh in home runs with 44, second with a 3.10 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and second with 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

Four Nighthawks were named First Team All-Conference in utility/pitcher Haden Keller, relief pitchers Max Holtzclaw and Blake McFadden, and third baseman Duke Pahukoa. Three earned Second Team honors in shortstop Parker Price, first baseman Grant Kerry, and outfielder Tyler Best. There were also three named Honorable Mention in starting pitcher Brock Moffitt, second baseman Kyle Payne, and designated hitter Alex Salsman.

Keller is eighth in the region in ERA, while Holtzclaw is second in the region and third in the nation with 12 saves. 

Scouting the Sea Lions
Point Loma (43-7) won the PacWest regular season and earned the auto-bid from the conference since they do not hold a conference tournament. This is their fourth appearance at NCAA Regionals and they hold a 3-6 record in the NCAA postseason coming into the weekend.

NNU played at Point Loma in their second series of the season in early February, dropping all four games of the four-game series. Despite the Nazarene connection between the programs, that is the only time that they have faced off as members of NCAA Division II.

Baxter Halligan is the do-it-all stud for the Sea Lions, earning both Player and Pitcher of the Year honors in the PacWest. He is joined on the First Team by first baseman Jakob Christian, third baseman Otto Kemp, and relief pitcher Cole Hillier. Second Team honors went to outfielder Izayah Alvarez, starting pitchers Jack Gonzales and Dylan Miller, and relief pitcher Zachary Veen. Second baseman Jason Dumont was also name Honorable Mention All-PacWest.

Scouting the Broncos
Cal Poly Pomona (35-17) finished second in the CCAA and went on to win the CCAA tournament for their auto-bid. This is CPP's 14th NCAA regional appearance, including three National Championships back in the 70s and 80s. The Broncos have also made the West Regional in six of their last seven seasons and hold a 50-28 overall record in the NCAA postseason.

Thursday will be the first time that NNU has played Cal Poly Pomona in program history.

The Broncos were well-represented on the All-CCAA teams, led by Pitcher of the Year Will Rudy. Rudy is joined on the First Team by catcher Johnny Pappas, second baseman Ryon Knowles, and outfielder Ricky Nunez. Outfielder Cesar Lopez and DH Jacob Lopez were named Second Team, while relief pitcher Eric Romo earned Honorable Mention honors.


Full Regional Schedule
*all times Pacific

Thursday, May 19
11:00 AM          Game 1             #5 Cal Poly Pomona vs #4 Northwest Nazarene
2:00 PM            Game 2             #1 Point Loma vs Loser of Game 1

Friday, May 20
11:00 AM          Game 3             Winner of Game 1 vs Winner/Loser of Game 2
2:00 PM            Game 4             TBD vs TBD

Saturday, May 21
12:00 PM          Game 5             TBD vs TBD (if necessary)