NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene baseball swept Central Washington by scores of 13-1 and 4-1 on Thursday, and with the two victories the Nighthawks clinched the GNAC Regular Season Championship for the third time in the last four seasons.
The Nighthawks improve to 32-11-1 on the season and 22-8 in GNAC play. Western Oregon split with MSUB in Billings today to move to 19-11 in conference action, three back of NNU with just two games left for each team to play tomorrow.
Game One
Kyle Ethridge was dominant in the opener, flirting with a perfect game as he retired the first 16 Wildcat batters in order and only threw 37 pitches over the first five innings.
CWU broke up the perfecto and no-hit bid with a one-out single in the sixth. Ethridge ended up going seven innings, allowing a run on three hits while striking out four.
On the other side of the coin, the NNU offense was rolling as they put up 13 runs on 18 hits, tallying three in the second, four in the fourth, one in the sixth, and five in the seventh.
Cole Calnon and
Bryan Rojas each went 4-5, with Calnon adding three RBIs.
Trevor Tishenkel registered three hits and two RBIs, while
Adam Paganelli had two hits, a homer, and four runs batted in.
Carter Walsh and
Casey Wayne both also had multi-hit games with two apiece.
Josh Bishopp relieved Ethridge in the eighth inning and retired the only batter he faced.
Nick Bateman came in to finish the job for NNU, setting down the final five CWU hitters in order.
Game Two
Four runs in the first inning of game two proved to be all NNU would need as they rolled to the 4-1 win.
With two outs and runners on first and third, Paganelli reached on an error by the CWU third baseman that allowed Rojas to score from third.
Duke Pahukoa then stepped up and cleared the fence in left field for a three-run homer, his eighth of the season.
Kailer Saunders started for the Nighthawks and picked up the win after going 4 1/3 innings while allowing just one run on six hits and one strikeout.
Josh Brown retired five Wildcats in order before
Wade Duncan notched his eighth save of the season with a perfect seventh.
Walsh and Tishenkel both had two hits for the Nighthawks in the nightcap.
Next Up
The Nighthawks and Wildcats wrap up the regular season with a doubleheader starting at noon tomorrow. Then it's off to Billings for the GNAC tournament next weekend, May 9-10.
