BILLINGS, Mont. – Northwest Nazarene baseball defended their top overall seed on Friday on day one of the GNAC Championships, defeating both Central Washington 16-6 and Western Oregon 5-4.
The Nighthawks improve to 35-12-1 overall and put themselves in a great position to win the GNAC Tournament title and automatic bid to NCAA Regionals, needing just one more win over Western Oregon tomorrow while the Wolves would need to take two from NNU to claim the championship.
Game One: NNU vs CWU
The Nighthawks' offense could not be stopped in the opener, as they scored in each of the first five innings including a seven-spot in the fourth.
Included in the scoring barrage was a homer from
Carter Walsh to lead off the bottom of the first, a two-RBI double from
Cole Calnon, a two-run homer from
Trevor Tishenkel, a two-run double from
Gavin Brubaker, and a three-run jack from
Duke Pahukoa to make it 13-0.
That would prove to be more than enough as the Nighthawks took the win 16-6.
Bryan Rojas went six innings in the start for NNU, allowing two earned runs while striking out four.
Nick Bateman and
Jaxon Henderson each pitched in relief.
Calnon and
Adam Paganelli each had three hits, with Calnon adding four RBIs.
Game Two: NNU vs WOU
Calnon picked right up where he left off in game one, hammering a two-run homer to left in the third inning. Western Oregon tied it at two in the top of the fourth, but the Nighthawks responded with three in the bottom of the inning as Rojas scored on a passed ball and Walsh hit a two-run homer.
The Wolves put up two in the fifth to come within one run of the Nighthawks, but NNU was able to hold on for the 5-4 victory.
This was due in large part to
Josh Brown, who entered in relief of
Kyle Ethridge with two outs in the fifth and proceeded to throw 4 1/3 scoreless innings with just four hits allowed and four strikeouts. Ethridge went 4 2/3 frames, allowing three earned runs on four hits.
Calnon and Walsh were two of five Nighthawks to have multi-hit games with two apiece.
Next Up
As mentioned, NNU play Western Oregon with a GNAC title on the line tomorrow, with first pitch set for noon. If the Wolves force another game, it would start around 3:30 p.m.
