ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene baseball had some tough luck in game one as they were defeated 7-6 on a walk-off winner. In game two, the Nighthawks offense struggled, and they fell 5-2.
The Nighthawks are now 20-24 overall and 14-12 in GNAC play.
Game 1
Both offenses were quiet for the first three innings of the game. In the bottom of the 4
th inning, the Wildcats put up three runs. The first run was walked in with the bases loaded on a wild pitch and the second run came around to score from second base on that pitch. The final run of the inning was brought in to score on a sacrifice fly.
The Nighthawks answered back with three runs of their own in the top of the 5
th inning.
Manny Casillas and
Duke Pahukoa both scored on a single from
Mason Leavitt.
Kaleb Karpstein came to the plate next with Leavitt and
Tyler Best on base. Karpstein delivered a base hit RBI with two outs to tie the game at 3-3.
The Nighthawks momentum continued and they added two more runs in the top of the 6
th inning on three hits to take a 5-3 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, NNU allowed two unearned runs to score, and the game was knotted at 5-5.
NNU had two errors in the bottom of the 7
th inning that allowed CWU to take a 6-5 lead. In the top of the 8
th inning, Best reached base on a walk, and
Kyle Payne hit a double that brought him around to score.
With the score tied at 6-6, the Wildcats hit a walk-off single to right field in the bottom of the 9
th to reach the 7-6 final.
Game 2
The second game started off great for the Nighthawks.
Shane Jamison reached base on a single and NNU power hitter,
Duke Pahukoa hit his sixth home run of the year to give his team the early 2-0 lead.
Unfortunately, that would be all the offense for the Nighthawks. They went on to get three more hits the rest of the game but didn't drive any runs home.
Central Washington tied the game in the 2
nd inning with two unearned runs, then took a 3-2 lead in the 3
rd inning. They extended their lead to 5-2 in the 6
th inning. Apart from a triple by
Adam Paganelli, the Nighthawks went quietly in the 7
th.
On Deck
The Nighthawks finish off their series against the Wildcats with two games tomorrow.
