Friday, May 28, 2021
NAMPA, Idaho – Western Oregon was one strike away from winning the NCAA Division II West Regional, but Northwest Nazarene had other plans.
The No. 2-seeded Nighthawks rallied for five runs with two outs in the ninth inning to walk it off for a 7-5 victory over the No. 3-seeded Wolves in front of their home crowd at Vail Baseball Field in Nampa, Idaho.
The Nighthawks only had one hit in the game and trailed 5-2 going into the ninth. Freshman right fielder Grant Kerry and senior catcher Ben Johnson both singled with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate in senior first baseman John Gonzalez, who hit a three-run blast over the left-field wall to tie the game.
Freshman Quentin Ayers came in to pinch-hit and was hit by a pitch to represent the winning run, and then junior designated hitter Alex Salsman hit the game-winning homer to right-center to force Saturday’s rubber match.
Western Oregon took an early 2-0 lead in the fourth with back-to-back solo home runs to left by senior first baseman Connor McCord and senior designated hitter Josh Berman. Berman hit a three-run shot to left in the fifth to give the Wolves a five-run lead. Berman went 2 for 5 in the game with the two homers.
Northwest Nazarene punched back in the sixth as senior third baseman Shawn Grandmont ripped a two-run triple to right-center to score junior left fielder Haden Keller and freshman shortstop Walker Moore.
Nighthawks’ starter, sophomore Spencer Schwehr, allowed two earned runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. Senior Blake McFadden entered the game in the sixth and silenced the Wolves’ bats, allowing just one hit while walking one and striking out four in 3.1 innings.
Junior Max Holtzclaw picked up the win to improve to 5-1 on the season. He tossed just two-thirds of an inning in the ninth, striking out both of the batters he faced to snap the Wolves’ 10-game winning streak.
Sophomore Matthew Dunaway took a no-decision in his start for the Wolves. He allowed two earned runs on one hit with three walks and 10 strikeouts in 5.2 innings. McCord took the loss, allowing three earned runs on the two ninth-inning homers.
The West Regional championship game between Northwest Nazarene (33-8, 21-3 GNAC) and Western Oregon (22-7, 19-5 GNAC) will be played on Saturday at noon. The winner will be the first-ever GNAC team to advance to the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championships, which will be played on June 5-12 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.