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NAMPA, Idaho (Mar. 1) -- Junior left-hander Skye Adams (Vancouver/Columbia River HS) turned in his second nine-inning complete game of the season, and senior Kyle Sani (Kennewick/Southridge HS) homered and drove in three runs to lead Central Washington University to a 4-2 win over Northwest Nazarene University in the opening game of a baseball doubleheader on Friday night at Vail Field. NNU took advantage of five CWU errors to win the nightcap, 8-6.

Each team opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a 1-1 record, as CWU is now 5-9 overall and Northwest Nazarene is 7-8 on the season.

Game 1: CWU 4, Northwest Nazarene 2
Adams, who improved to 3-0 on the season, scattered 10 hits in his complete-game victory. He escaped trouble in the third inning, when NNU had three straight singles to start the inning, by getting a strikeout, lineout, and groundout and preserve a 1-0 CWU lead at the time.

The Crusaders finally scored in the fifth on a leadoff home run by Greg Hata, but Adams once again avoided a big inning after NNU had advanced a pair of runners into scoring position with two out.

Sani then provided his battery-mate with some run support in the top of the sixth inning, belting a two-run home run -- his third of the season -- to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead. CWU then tacked on an insurance run in the seventh after senior Justin Peterson (Tacoma/Life Christian Academy) led off with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by junior Joel Johnson (Olympia).

NNU scored its final run in the seventh on a one-out RBI single by Logan Parker, but Adams allowed just one base runner over the final 2 2/3 innings.

CWU was outhit by a 10-9 count, with Johnson leading the offense with three hits in four at-bats. Sani was 2 for 4, and junior Joe Castro (Union City, Calif./James Logan HS) joined Peterson with a double in the contest.

Hata went 3 for 4 with both runs scored for the Crusaders, whose starting pitcher, Aaron Vaughn, suffered the loss despite eight innings of work.

Game 2: Northwest Nazarene 8, CWU 6
CWU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Northwest Nazarene converted five Wildcat errors into five unearned runs to earn a split of the doubleheader, 8-6.

Sani brought home Castro with a sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning to give senior pitcher Tyler Roberts (Kennewick/Southridge HS) an early lead. That lead lasted only until the bottom of the second, however, when the Crusaders tied the game on a RBI groundout by Jamie Mitchell. NNU then scored twice in the third, capitalizing on two CWU errors, and then three more in the fourth after three consecutive hits early in the inning.

The Wildcats scored once in the top of the fourth on a run-scoring fielder's choice by senior Marc Garza (Othello) -- the first of two RBI fielder's choices and three RBI overall for the third baseman in the game.

After Northwest Nazarene had pushed the lead to 8-2 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, CWU began to chip away and threaten for a comeback. The Wildcats scored twice in the top of the sixth -- first on a fielder's choice by Garza and then on a bases-loaded walk to sophomore Kasey Bielec (Port Orchard/North Mason HS) -- but left the tying run at the time at the plate.

CWU scored twice in the seventh, as the first runner came home on an infield single by Garza, and the second crossed the plate on an error on the same play. However, representing the tying run, sophomore Mike Davalos (Apache Junction, Ariz.) struck out to end the contest.

The Wildcats finished the nightcap with a 7-6 edge in hits. Garza (2 for 4) and freshman Kramer Ferrell (Ellensburg) each had two hits in game two, as Ferrell was also 2 for 4 with two runs scored and a double. Roberts fell to 0-2 on the season despite five strikeouts and just five hits allowed in 4 2/3 innings of work, as all eight runs (three earned) were charged to the right-hander.

NNU was led offensively by Mitchell and Parker, who had two hits each. Mitchell drove in three runs for the Crusaders, and starter Tyler Marsh (1-0) picked up the pitching win after allowing just four hits over 4 2/3 innings of work.

The two teams wrap up their four-game weekend series on Saturday, beginning at noon Mountain Standard Time (11 a.m. Pacific) at Vail Field.