Monmouth, Ore. – NNU finishes the weekend a perfect 4-0 as they head into final bye weekend before final push towards the GNAC playoffs begin. The nighthawks with the honor of hosting the GNAC tournament this season, look to take advantage of this upcoming weekends break before looking to push to clinch, not only a playoff birth, but the #1 seed at the home field for the GNAC playoffs. 

Game One: 8-2 (G. Lucas 2-0) 

The day started off hot for the Nighthawks as they were able to take care of business in game one in impressive eight to two fashion. The game would start off with a pitchers duel, as both starting pitchers would come out ready to battle as both were able to put up zeros on the scoreboard for the first three innings. 

However the Nighthawks would strike first once again this weekend as they would be able to push two runs across to score in the top half of the fourth inning. Kaleb Karpstein would start things off for the Nighthawks as he would get a leadoff double to get things going. This was then followed by a single from Adrian Arechiga to put runners on the corners. 

Arechiga would then decide to force some action and force the catcher to try and throw him out as Arechiga decided to go and steal second base. The throw down from the catcher went well wide of second base, allowing Karpstein to score from third and Arechiga to advance to third after getting his stolen bag. 

Gavin Brubaker, who is dealing with a forearm injury, found a way to come through for his team even though it came in the form of being the designated hitter instead of being the shortstop. Keeping Brubaker in the lineup would prove helpful for head coach Joe Schaefer as Brubaker would be able to hit an RBI single and score Arechiga from third for the second run of the inning. 

The offense didn't slow down there, as in the top half of the fifth inning, the top of the lineup was on fire as an infield single turned triple due to a throwing error put Parker Sobiesiak on third where Carter Walsh was able to drive in a run with a double down the line. 

Kaleb Karpstein would get on base from being hit by a pitch, and Adrian Arechiga would come through with an RBI double of his own, scoring Walsh from second and putting two runners in scoring position with no outs. 

A walk from Kyle Becker would load the bases up and allow back to back sacrifice flies to be executed, one from Brubaker and one from Liam Herrera, which boosted the lead to six runs at the halfway mark of game one. 

Grayden Lucas would throw a gem, throwing 5.1 innings, allowing no walks, five hits, and striking out three batters on his way to his second win of the season, and his first as a starter. Tyler Stolfich would come in to throw in the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on first and one out and would be able to get two outs without letting any runs come in. 

In the top of the sixth the offense would be held to nothing, but would get back on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh as a Karpstein would reach base after getting hit by a pitch, and would later score on a sacrifice fly from Kyle Becker to add another run to the total, bringing the game to a seven to zero score. 

Stofich would then come out once again for the bottom of the seventh inning where he would allow no hits, two hit batters, but would get a double play to get out of the inning with no damage done. 

The eighth inning would be quiet for both teams as neither team was able to get a hit as Hawk Hill would come in to throw for the Nighthawks in the bottom of the eighth, retiring the side in order. In the top half of the ninth inning NNU would extend their lead by another run as their eighth run of the game would come in off the bat of Becker as Walsh would come in to score from third. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Wolves were able to get some traffic and bring a couple runs around to score. Hawk Hill would struggle to find the zone as he would only be able to get two outs before the Nighthawks coaching staff decided to make one more move to the pen with two outs in the ninth to bring in Hunter Bennett. Bennett would come into the game with bases loaded and two 

outs where he would hit the first batter he faced before getting the final out of game one via a lineout, ending the game with a Nighthawks 8-2 victory. 

Game Two: 8-1 (K. Mullins 1-0) 

Game two was a beautiful team effort as the fourth game of the weekend would be a bullpen game for the pitching staff and the offense would have to work station to station if they wanted to sweep the Wolves in the series. 

Hunter Mahaffey would get the call to start the game on the hill and he would go out and throw two complete innings of work, only allowing two hits and one walk as he would keep the Wolves off the board in the early stages of the game. 

Kaden Mullins would come in to throw in the third inning, as he would enter the game with a two run lead and would go on to throw a little over two innings as he would also get the first out in the fifth inning. The Wolves would be able to get one run across on Mullins in the fifth as he was taken out, however Mullins would get seven outs, only allowing four hits and walking nobody on his way to what would later be classified as his win. 

The Nighthawks offense continued to play excellent station to station baseball as they would get started early in this one. In the top half of the second inning, Caleb Boswell would come up huge as he would hit a two out double to score the first two runs of the game and give the Nighthawks the lead. 

NNU would never look back from that point on as they would go and score two more in the top half of the fifth inning, one on a wild pitch, and one coming across on an RBI single from Carter Walsh. The Wolves would be able to string a few runners together and get one run back to make the score 4-1 after five innings of play. 

NNU however, would slam the door on the wolves in the top half of the sixth, scoring four runs in one inning for the second time today. The Nighthawks would take advantage of free bases in the form of walks, and take advantage of an error to get in the four runs. But highlighting the inning was a bases loaded single that scored two runs coming off the bat of Parker Sobiesiak. 

The pitching staff would once again come through and shut things down for the Nighthawks, as they would keep the Wolves to only one run in the game. Tyson Rutherford, Hunter Bennett, and Wade Duncan would wrap things up on the hill for the Nighthawks, pitching a combined 2.2 innings, only allowing two hits in that time, and striking out three batters to secure the series and regular season sweep of the Western Oregon Wolves. 

The Nighthawks move to a super 17-3 record in GNAC play with a 27-11 overall record on the season. The Nighthawks move one weekend closer to the GNAC playoff tournament as they will head into their final bye week of the season before taking on Saint Martins here in Nampa on April 17th and 18th. 

Nighthawks of the Day 

Caleb Boswell: 2-2, 3 RBIs, 2 R, 2B, BB 

Carter Walsh: 4-9, 3 RBIs, 2 R, 2B, 

Kaleb Karpstein: 3-7, 3 R, 2 HBP, 2B, SB