View the complete 2024 GNAC baseball schedule online here.

PEDAL TO THE METAL: First-place Northwest Nazarene (23-10-1, 13-7 GNAC) and fifth-place Montana State Billings (13-25, 7-13) both have plenty to play for heading down the stretch. Both teams will be flat out in GNAC competition for the final three weeks of the regular season and will start that run by facing each other in Nampa for a four-game series on Friday. The Nighthawks are looking to cement themselves at the top of the conference standings after falling 22-7 to Division I Utah Valley in its only game of last week while the Yellowjackets still have a shot to make the postseason at their home Dehler Park after splitting its series with Saint Martin’s last time out.

The Nighthawks will be looking to get back in the win column this week after dropping three of four games against Western Oregon before last week’s break from conference action. The lineup received a shot in the arm last week despite the loss to Utah Valley as senior infielder Duke Pahukoa broke into the top four in the conference with six home runs on the season after a pair of long balls in the Beehive State. On the year Pahukoa is third on the team with a .282 batting average and ranks second with 24 RBIs. Freshman Carter Walsh leads NNU with a .291 batting average and 25 RBIs to go along with a GNAC-leading 19 stolen bases.

Senior left-hander Kyle Ethridge continues to lead the way for NNU on the mound and owns a 3.86 ERA that ranks fifth in the league coming into the week. The Alta Loma, Calif., native did not appear in last week’s non-conference game and should be well-rested coming into the team’s series with the Yellowjackets. Along with his team-leading ERA, Ethridge also comes into the week leading NNU and ranking eighth in the conference with 39 strikeouts on the year while averaging 6.84 K’s per nine innings.

The ’Jackets brought plenty of power to the plate last week as they scored 31 runs across four games against the Saints. The lineup will face one of its biggest tests of the season as it heads to Nampa and aims to continue its strong offensive campaign. Junior Jack Nehler has remained the most consistent performer at the plate for MSUB with a .369 batting average that ranks second in the conference and a .421 on-base percentage checks in at No. 4 in the league, all while slugging a .571 clip that’s good for second in the GNAC. Kaden Kirshenbaum also has to be considered a threat every time he steps up to the plate as he comes into the week leading the conference with a career-high 10 home runs on the year.

On the mound, junior right-hander Beau Burnett comes into the series as the reigning GNAC Pitcher of the Week after a stellar performance against the Saints. Last time out, Burnett threw 5.1 innings and notched five strikeouts while allowing just one earned run on four hits to earn the win and improve to 3-1 on the season. Through eight appearances in relief this year, Burnett has complied a 4.12 ERA and struck out 17 batters while allowing just seven extra-base hits in 19.2 innings of work.

MAKING EVERY MOMENT COUNT: Second-place Western Oregon (20-18, 14-10) and fourth-place Saint Martin’s (15-26, 9-15) both come into the week looking at their penultimate conference series of the season. The Wolves sit one game ahead of third-place Central Washington after splitting with the Wildcats in Ellensburg last week while the Saints also managed a split with Montana State Billings last time out to stay within arm’s reach of CWU. The two teams will meet in Monmouth this week before the Wolves take a week off from conference competition while the Saints have the bye in the final week of the regular season.

The Wolves have been one of the best defensive teams in the conference this season and lead the league with both a 4.44 ERA and a .973 fielding percentage. While not the flashiest stat, defensive strength tends to lead to success and the result for WOU so far has been a run of eight straight series with at least a split. Coming into the week, the Wolves have two of the top three pitchers in the league in terms of ERA as Dylan Chalmers comes in ranked second (2.96 ERA) and Jacob Memmott (3.57 ERA) checks in at No. 3. Both also rank in the top 10 of the conference in strikeouts with Chalmers fifth on 46 K’s and Memmott seventh with 40 punchouts.

The Wolves have had the benefit of a reliable lineup this season with four batters hitting above .280, including Owen Bischoff with a team-leading .307 batting average and John Oleson’s .300 average that ranks second for the Wolves. Oleson has driven in the most runs for the Wolves with 27 RBIs on the season while Bischoff has crossed the plate 30 times to lead the team and tie for seventh in the league. As a team, Western Oregon has grounded into just four double plays all season and ranks third in the conference with a .289 batting average with runners on base.

The Saints’ rotation is led by one of the best arms in the conference in Colin Driscoll. The junior right-hander comes into the week leading the league with a 2.92 ERA and is one of just two pitchers in the conference along with Chalmers to own a sub-3.00 ERA. Through a GNAC-leading 61.2 innings of work, Driscoll has compiled a 4-3 record and is tied for the conference lead with 54 strikeouts while also topping the GNAC with a .204 opponent batting average.

Senior Austin Schaler has been one of the top bats for Saint Martin’s this season, ranking second on the team with a .309 batting average. Schaler has done a little bit of everything through his 139 at-bats this year, drawing 19 walks to tie for third in the GNAC and stealing seven bases to tie for sixth. In terms of power, Schaler has gone deep seven times to tie for sixth in the league and ranks eighth in the conference with a .511 slugging percentage. That consistency has given Schaler a team-leading 22 RBIs while scoring 23 runs of his own.

BREAK FROM GNAC-TION: Central Washington (18-20, 13-11) has the week off from conference action this week but will still take the field on Saturday as it hosts Eastern Oregon for its final non-conference games of the regular season. The Wildcats come into their GNAC bye-week on the heels of a series split with Western Oregon in Ellensburg and will be looking to keep their momentum rolling against the NAIA Mountaineers.

The Central Washington lineup comes into the week led by one of the hottest bats in all of Division II with Ben Leid hitting .421 to lead the conference and rank 31st in the division. Leid, the reigning GNAC and NCBWA West Region Player of the Week, has been one of the most productive bats in the conference this season, ranking fifth in the league with 31 runs scored, tying for fourth with six home runs and leading the GNAC with 34 RBIs and 86 total bases. The result is Leid leading the league in all three major batting stats as he also slugs .647 and has reached base at a clip of .477.

The Wildcats’ rotation is led by junior right-hander Daniel Charron with a 3.80 ERA that ranks fourth in the conference.  Charron has compiled a 4-4 record through 47.1 innings this season and is one of just three pitchers to throw a shutout this year. Through eight starts in nine appearances, Charron has gone the distance five times to lead the league and also checks in at No. 8 in the GNAC with a .258 opponent batting average.

Northwest Nazarene remains in the top 25 of the NCBWA national ranking for a ninth consecutive week at No. 23 despite a non-conference loss to Division I Utah Valley last week. The Nighthawks will look to improve that ranking and their No. 3 mark in the west this week as they return to conference action against Montana State Billings on Friday and Saturday. Western Oregon stayed put in the regional rankings at No. 9 after earning the split against Central Washington last time out.

Complete Games: 3. CWU, 7; 8. SMU, 6
Double Plays: 25. MSUB, 32
Double Plays Per Game: 23. MSUB, 0.84
ERA: 27. WOU, 4.44
Fielding Percentage: 27. WOU, .973
Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings: 14. WOU, 8.19
Sacrifice Bunts: 27. CWU, 28
Shutouts: 24. CWU, 3
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio: 15. NNU, 2.52
Triples: 17. WOU, 15; 22. MSUB, 14
Triples Per Game: 18. WOU, 0.39; 24. MSUB, 0.37
WHIP: 8. WOU, 1.29; 9. NNU, 1.30
Win-Loss Percentage: 30. NNU, .691
Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings: 3. NNU, 2.52; 8. CWU, 2.94; 16. WOU, 3.43

Batting Average: 22. Ben Leid, CWU, .427
Complete Games: 3. Daniel Charron, CWU, 5; 15. Colin Driscoll, SMU, 3; 15. Justice Yamashita, SMU, 3
Hit Batters: 8. Cole Hatton, SMU, 17; 21. Arturo Alvarez, WOU, 14
Hit By Pitch Per Game: 29. Justyn Herzog, WOU, 0.43
Hit By Pitch: 22. Justyn Herzog, WOU, 16
Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings: 19. Colin Driscoll, SMU, 6.27
Hits Per Game: 16. Ben Leid, CWU, 1.65
Sacrifice Bunts: 7. Carter Walsh, NNU, 9; 26. Emiliano Alarcon, WOU, 7
Sacrifice Bunts Per Game: 6. Carter Walsh, NNU, 0.26
Saves: 11. Wade Duncan, NNU, 7
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio: 12. Kyle Ethridge, NNU, 6.50; 26. Logan Pierce, CWU, 5.33
Triples: 11. Owen Bischoff, WOU, 5; 11. Curran Mitzel, WOU, 5
Triples Per Game: 25. Owen Bischoff, WOU, 0.13; 25. Curran Mitzel, WOU, 0.13
WHIP: 9. Kyle Ethridge, NNU, 0.92; 13. Colin Driscoll, SMU, 0.96
Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings: 1. Logan Pierce, CWU, 0.55; 7. Kyle Ethridge, NNU, 1.05; 27. Kailer Saunders, NNU, 1.45; 30. Blaze Wong, SMU, 1.51

 Points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.