NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene baseball split Saturday's regular-season finale with Central Washington, taking game one 8-1 before falling 9-7 in game two.
The Nighthawks finish the regular season 33-12-1 overall and 23-9 in GNAC play. The Nighthawks grabbed the regular season title and No. 1 overall seed in next week's GNAC Championships in Billings, which will begin on May 9.
Game One
NNU got on the board early and often in the opener, scoring two runs in the first, one in the second, three in the third, and two in the fourth.
Bryan Rojas had an RBI single,
Trevor Tishenkel an RBI double, and
Carter Walsh an RBI single to make it 3-0 after two innings.
Adam Paganelli hit a pair of two-run bombs in the next two frames, with a
Gavin Brubaker RBI single sandwiched between them.
Blake Hammond was very sharp for the second week in a row, allowing just one run over six innings with five strikeouts.
Adam Brooks relieved Hammond, followed by
Josh Brown (two strikeouts) and
Josh Bishopp for two scoreless innings.
Tishenkel, Walsh, and
Liam Herrera each had three-hit games, while Rojas, Paganelli, and Brubaker had two hits apiece.
Game Two
After scoring just one run in each of the first three games of the series, Central Washington's bats finally woke up in the final game as they put runs on the board in five of the seven innings.
The Wildcats led 6-3 after four frames, with Walsh scoring on a wild pitch, a
Quentin Ayers RBI single, and a
Manny Casillas RBI single providing NNU's runs.
CWU added three more though, all unearned, in the sixth to go up 9-3. The Nighthawks did their best to mount a comeback with two runs in each of the final two innings, but could not quite catch back up before the game was over.
Casey Wayne had three of the final four RBIs, hitting a two-run homer and recording an RBI single. Herrera also had an RBI single in the seventh.
Jonathan Zayas started for NNU, followed by
Wade Duncan and
Cole Calnon in relief.
Next Up
As mentioned, NNU will travel to Billings next week for the GNAC Championships on May 9-10.
