OREM, Utah – Northwest Nazarene baseball got out to a hot start, but ultimately fell to Utah Valley by a final score of 11-9 after making it interesting in the final innings.
The Nighthawks are now 11-15 overall and still 5-3 in GNAC play.
How it Happened
Henry Clark had a dominant start on the bump for NNU. He struck out the side in the first inning to set the tone for his performance. Clark threw 2.2 innings and faced just nine batters while striking out five of them without allowing a hit.
The Nighthawks had hits in both the 1
st and 2
nd innings, but the top of the 3
rd was when they put their first runs on the board.
Kaleb Karpstein singled up the middle for his second hit of the game.
Colby Moran moved Karpstein over with a single of his own.
Rumble Reyes brought Karpstein around to score with an RBI single to the right side. Later in the inning, Moran came in to score when Best was walked with the bases loaded.
Down 2-0, the Wolverines put up a run in the bottom of the 4
th on a sac fly to right field, bringing the score to 2-1.
Moran walked to begin the 5
th inning for. Reyes followed that up with his second hit of the game, and Reynolds walked to load the bases. After Utah Valley collected their first out of the inning,
Nolan Walker brought Moran in to score on a sac fly.
Kailer Saunders had NNU's first extra base hit of the game with a triple that scored both Reyes and Reynolds. NNU led 5-1 going into the bottom of the 5
th.
Utah Valley scored most of their runs in the bottom of the 5
th inning.
Nick Irwin got two quick outs before running into a little bit of trouble. Irwin allowed a two-run home run, but those would be the only two earned runs of the inning. After a throwing error is when the real damage began. The Wolverines finished the 5
th inning with an 8-5 lead.
The Wolverines added three more runs in the 6
th inning on four hits. The Nighthawks offense woke back up in the top of the 8
th inning.
Mason Leavitt and Saunders began the inning with a couple of singles and Karpstein got aboard with a walk. Moran came to the dish with bases loaded and cleared them with a double to left center, bringing the Nighthawks within three runs.
Trailing 11-8, the Nighthawks made things interesting in the 9
th inning. Walker led off the inning with a single. After Leavitt walked, and Karpstein was hit by a pitch,
Shane Jamison came to the plate as the go-ahead run. Jamison brought Walker into score on a fielder's choice for NNU's final run.
NNU had 15 hits in comparison to UVU's 10. Five different Nighthawks had multi-hit games. Moran and Saunders each had multi-RBI games.
On Deck
The Nighthawks next series is at home against Central Washington and begins on Friday.
