ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene baseball outslugged Central Washington 13-8 in game one on Saturday but fell 7-4 in game two to split the day, still earning the series victory after Friday's sweep.
The 11
th-ranked Nighthawks move to 22-6-1 on the season and 12-4 in GNAC play.
Game One
Central held the Nighthawks off the board for the first six innings of the opener, and the Wildcats tallied one run in the first, two in the third, and one in the fourth to hold a 4-0 lead.
The complexion of the game drastically changed in the seventh inning, however, as NNU exploded for 10 runs. The Nighthawks loaded the bases with no outs before
Gavin Brubaker drove in two runs with a double to open the big inning.
Manny Casillas followed with another two-run double, and
Cole Calnon made it back-to-back-to-back run-scoring doubles with an RBI two-bagger of his own to put NNU up 5-4.
The barrage kept coming, with
Duke Pahukoa adding yet another two-run double,
Casey Wayne an RBI single, and
Adam Paganelli and Brubaker both recording sacrifice flies to wrap up the 10-spot.
CWU came back with four runs in the bottom of the inning, but NNU added three more across the final two frames to secure the 13-8 win.
Trevor Tishenkel knocked his eighth homer of the season in the eighth inning, followed by RBI singles from
Quentin Ayers and Calnon in the ninth.
Jonathan Zayas went three innings in the start, allowing three runs on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Kailer Saunders earned the win, tossing 3 2/3 innings with five runs allowed, four of them earned.
Blake Hammond was impressive over 2 1/3 scoreless frames to pick up the save, allowing just one hit.
Brubaker was 3-4 with three RBIs, while Calnon, Pahukoa, Wayne, and
Kaleb Karpstein each registered two hits for the Nighthawks.
Game Two
Similar to game one, CWU struck first with three runs in the first inning this time. NNU tied things up in the top of the third, as
Drew Deal scored on an error,
Carter Walsh notched a sacrifice fly, and
Trevor Tishenkel drove in a run with a single.
Central took the lead back with a run in the bottom of the frame and added another in the fourth to go up 5-3.
Cole Calnon cut the deficit in half with one swing in the top of the fifth, launching his first homer of the season.
That was as close as the Nighthawks would get, though, and CWU scored two more before it was over to take the 7-4 win.
Josh Bishopp went two innings in the start for NNU, followed by
Jakob Rochelle,
Adam Brooks, and
Cole Calnon.
Next Up
NNU remains on the road next week, visiting Western Oregon for a four-game series on April 5 and 6.
