TURLOCK, Calif. – Northwest Nazarene baseball earned a pair of dominating victories at Stanislaus State on Friday, defeating the Warriors by scores of 4-0 and 7-3.
The Nighthawks improve to 3-1 in the early season.
Game One
The first game was the
Jonathan Zayas story, as the senior lefty twirled a gem on the mound with no runs and just one hit allowed through seven innings of work. He added nine strikeouts and just one walk, only allowing two baserunners with neither advancing past second base.
The Nighthawks got on the scoreboard right away in the opener, starting with
Carter Walsh leading off the game with a walk and
Bryan Rojas hit by a pitch to put two runners on.
Kailer Saunders came up with the big hit, knocking a two-out, two-RBI single to left center.
The game remained 2-0 all the way to the seventh inning. With two outs in the top of the frame, Walsh drilled a double down the left field line, stole third, and then came in to score on a throwing error by the Stanislaus catcher. Two innings later, it was Walsh coming up with an RBI instead of scoring, bringing home
Kaleb Karpstein with an RBI single to center to put NNU up 4-0.
Wade Duncan, who had entered in the eighth inning in relief of Zayas, then retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to claim the save and clinch the victory.
Walsh finished the game 2-4 with an RBI, a walk, and two runs scored. Saunders also had two hits and two RBIs.
Game Two
The second game featured another dominant outing for a Nighthawks starting pitcher, as
Kyle Ethridge tossed six innings and allowed just one run on four hits while striking out six.
NNU got on the board with four runs in the second inning, with just one of them earned.
Duke Pahukoa scored the first run as
Adam Paganelli reached on a fielder's choice.
Trevor Tishenkel then scored on a
Gavin Brubaker sacrifice fly, followed by Paganelli coming home to score on a Stanislaus error off the bat of
Carter Walsh. Before the inning was over,
Jason Bell crossed home plate on an RBI groundout from
Casey Wayne.
The Nighthawks added runs in the third and fifth innings, both coming on RBI singles from
Kaleb Karpstein. The Warriors then tallied their first run of the day in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run to cut the NNU lead to 6-1.
NNU had another run come in to score on an error in the top of the eighth when
Isaiah McLeod pinch-ran and crossed home when the Warrior catcher threw the ball into center field attempting to catch Walsh stealing.
Stanislaus got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 7-3, but that was as close as they would get as NNU swept the doubleheader.
After Ethridge's stellar outing to earn the victory on the mound,
Cole Calnon tossed the final three innings to record the save. He allowed two runs on three hits while striking out four.
The Nighthawks took advantage of six Warrior errors in the game while not committing one on defense themselves.
Duke Pahukoa,
Trevor Tishenkel, and
Kaleb Karpstein all had two hits to lead the Nighthawks at the plate.
Next Up
NNU and Stanislaus will finish their three-game set tomorrow morning, with first pitch set for 10:30 a.m. Pacific.
