Seaside, Calif. - The Nighthawks played two more games against 14th ranked Cal State Monterey Bay earlier today and came up just shy in both games. The bats couldn't stay hot throughout the games, and despite some good outings and some good offensive production, the Nighthawks couldn't steal a win; they will fight for a series split tomorrow.
Game One: Loss 8-9 (H. Crews 1-1)
NNU would lose game one in heart-crushing fashion, as the nighthawks would find themselves blowing an 8-0 lead a few runs at a time, and a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth would finish the game.
The Nighthawks offense came out in the first five innings as the Nighthawks would play very disciplined baseball and have very patient at bats. Jake Mestas would put the first run on the board, as a single lined into left field would score the first run of the game.
The fifth inning would however be the inning to remember for Nighthawk fans, as the Nighthawk offense would go and put up a seven spot in the top of the fifth, all with two outs! A two out double from Gavin Brubaker would start things off as a single from the bat of reigning GNAC offensive player of the week, Coleman Parry, would score Brubaker from second.
The Nighthawks would then hit two more singles to load the bases with two outs. The Otter bullpen would fall apart as they would walk four runs in before a bases loaded double off the bat of Carter Walsh would score the last two runs of the inning, as the runner on first would be thrown out at home for the third and final out of the inning, but not before seven runs would score for the Nighthawk offense.
However this would be where things would start to go downhill. Corbin Talley would go out to try and get through five full innings, but the CSUMB offense would finally get to him, as a single would
score one and Talley would then give up a two run shot before head coach Joe Schaefer would be forced to turn to his bullpen, as Talley had gotten up to 107 pitches on the day.
Talley would finish the day with 4.2 innings pitched, racking up nine strikeouts, only walking two, and allowing only the three runs that came across in the fifth.
The next three arms out of the bullpen would all struggle as the Otter offense would find its traction for the first time this series. Myles Anderson would go out and only be able to get the final out of the fifth, and one out in the sixth before giving up a solo shot and a single before Coach Schaefer would put in Tyson Rutherford.
Rutherford would throw 1.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits, struggling to get outs as Hayden Crews would come in to throw in the midst of the 8th inning. Crews wouldn't fare much better as he would go out and get three outs giving up three runs on three hits, walking two batters as well.
Wade Duncan would be asked to come in with an almost impossible situation, as the bases were loaded with no outs in the ninth, in a tie game. Star closer would be able to strike out one batter, giving the Nighthawks a chance to win if he could get a double play ball. Duncan was able to get a ground ball in the right side of the infield, sadly it was too far away from the outstretched arms of the second baseman, and the Otters would walk it off.
Game 2: : Loss 1-2 (K. Becker 0-1)
Game two would be quite an opposite game compared to the earlier game, as game two of this double header would be a straight pitchers dual. Cal State would get through the top of the first clean, and come up to bat against the starter, Kyle Becker.
Becker would struggle as a leadoff walk, followed by a single and a hit batter would load the bases up early with no outs. This all was followed with another single up the middle scoring one, and a sacrifice fly to left field would score the only two runs allowed by the Nighthawks pitching staff in this game.
Sadly these two runs would be enough as the Nighthawks wouldn't be able to get to the CSUMB pitching staff, as the Nighthawks would only get five hits coming off the bats of only two players. Caleb Boswell would go two for three in this game with two singles, but it was Parker Sobiesiak that would be the lone run, as he went three for four, with a solo home run and two singles.
Becker would come out after just one inning, and the Nighthawks would turn to Tyler Stolfich, as he saw his first action of the season. Stolfich would go four innings of this seven inning game, only allowing four hits and no runs, while striking out two.
Grayden Lucas would come in to pitch the bottom of the sixth, and have a good inning, giving up one hit but getting out of the inning clean, keeping the score at one run to two. Sadly the Nighthawks weren't able to score again after the solo shot from Sobiesiak in the third, which means Becker would be credited with the loss in this game.
The Nighthawks get one more game against this gritty Cal State Monterey Bay team, as they play for the fourth and final time of this series tomorrow at 12pm Mountain Time, looking to split the series.. The Nighthawks are now 7-6 on the season, as they play their last game before their first GNAC conference series which comes against Western Oregon at home, two weeks from this weekend.
Nighthawks of the Day:
Parker Sobiesiak: 3-4, HR, RBI, Run
Tyler Stolfich: 4.0 Ip, 2 SO, 4 H
Carter Walsh: 2-8, 2 RBIs
