SEASIDE, Calif. – Northwest Nazarene baseball's historic season came to a close on Thursday in the West Regional, falling 8-6 to San Francisco State and 6-3 to Cal State Monterey Bay.
The Nighthawks finish the year at 36-15-1, setting a new program record for wins in a season while sweeping the GNAC Regular Season and Tournament titles. NNU was also ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation on multiple occasions.
Game 1: NNU vs SFSU
After a scoreless first inning, San Francisco State got the first run on the board with a solo homer in the top of the second. NNU responded right away in the bottom of the inning, though, with a
Kaleb Karpstein RBI double to tie the game at one.
The Gators took the lead back in the third with a two-run single.
Trevor Tishenkel cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double. SFSU added to their lead with three more in the fourth, however, to take a 6-2 advantage.
That score held until the seventh, when NNU was able to take a cut at the deficit with one run on a
Cole Calnon RBI single. The momentum carried over into the eighth, as the Nighthawks were able to tally three runs to tie the game at 6-6. Karpstein had another RBI double, followed by RBI singles from
Carter Walsh and
Gavin Brubaker.
Calnon led off the ninth with a walk and stole second to get in scoring position with two outs, but NNU was unable to bring the winning run home. SFSU then scored two runs on three hits in the top of the 10
th and held on for the 8-6 victory.
Blake Hammond started for NNU and allowed six runs on six hits through 3 1/3 innings.
Kailer Saunders tossed 3 2/3 innings in relief, allowing no runs, just one hit, and striking out three.
Jonathan Zayas went one scoreless inning, and
Wade Duncan threw the final two frames for the Nighthawks.
Walsh got on base all five times he came to the plate, going 3-3 with two walks. He also scored three times and drove in one run. Brubaker and Karpstein each had two-hit games as well.
Game 2: NNU vs CSUMB
Adam Paganelli got the Nighthawks on the board first against the Otters, belting an opposite-field solo homer in the top of the second. After being held scoreless over the first three innings, CSUMB broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run shot to take a 3-1 lead.
Carter Walsh cut the deficit in half in the top of the fifth with an RBI groundout, but the Otters responded with three more runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 6-2.
With one out in the top of the sixth, the Nighthawks got one run back on three straight hits – a
Trevor Tishenkel double, Paganelli single, and
Bryan Rojas double – but the threat ended there with two runners in scoring position.
Neither team was able to score over the final three innings, as Monterey Bay took the 6-3 win.
Kyle Ethridge went six innings in his final start in a Nighthawks uniform, allowing five earned runs while striking out five.
Josh Brown tossed two scoreless innings in relief. Paganelli and Rojas each had two hits for NNU.
