ELLENSBURG, WASH. – The Central Washington University baseball team (11-16-1, 8-12) lost both of the games in the series finale against the Northwest Nazarene University Nighthawks (15-13, 11-9).
The Wildcats have now lost three out four games in each of their last three series.
The Nighthawks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before
Hunter French and the Wildcat defense could settle in. The first two NNU batters reached before Kyle Redford stroked a ball to deep center field allowing Bennet Tabaracci to score from third. The second run came later in the inning after two consecutive walks loaded up the bases and allowed one more run to come in.
Central's offense was rather quiet throughout the entire game. NNU pulled away in the sixth inning putting up six runs in the inning, turning their two-run lead into six runs. Central tried to answer back, but was only able to score one run in the eighth and one in the ninth.
The eighth inning started with a leadoff walk from
Yi-an Pan. Two batters later,
Jesse Unger was able to hit a rocket down the third base line for a double allowing Pan to score from first on the play.
Central's second run of the game came in the ninth. After a two out walk from
Justin Hampson, Yi-an doubled to deep right center field allowing Hampson to score from first base.
The Wildcats weren't able to add any more in the game and lost by score of 8-2 in game one of the doubleheader.
"We have to get away from giving up those big innings," CWU Head Coach
Desi Storey said. "If you take away those six runs in the sixth inning, that's an entirely different ball game. On the flip side of that though, we have to capitalize when we have guys in scoring position and get those timely hits."
Game two started off with
AJ Wood getting his first start of the season on the hill for the Wildcats. The Central defense struggled again early in the game fielding the ball. A total of two errors, three passed balls and a wild pitch, in the first three innings allowed three runs to come across.
The Nighthawks were able to add on a few more in the top of the fourth inning after Ben Johnson was able get a two run double down the right field line. Another two runs came in the inning after the Nighthawks were able to string together another couple of hits off Wildcat relievers.
Joshua Touhey was able to come in and minimize the damage. After three and a half innings of play, the Nighthawks had an eight to zero lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Unger was able to stroke a double down the left field line but Central couldn't make anything of it.
The Wildcats got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. After back to back hits from Tripoli and Lesmeister, Hampson was able to load the bases on a fielding error from the NNU third baseman.
Yi-an Pan singled to left field and brought in Tripoli to end the shutout.
Four pitches later, Unger ripped a shot right past the pitcher's head and brought in two more runs.
Jason Hill followed up with a shot of his own that the second baseman couldn't handle to load the bases for the second time in the inning. The next batter,
Caetano Rochelle, was able to work a walk to bring in Pan for the fourth run of the inning.
In the top of the seventh inning the Nighthawks were able to add another run to their total to make the game 9-4 heading into the last inning. The Wildcats were only able to add one hit their hit total and dropped the game by score of 9-4.
"Four runs should be enough to win a game," Coach Storey said. "Today that wasn't the case. We struggled in the early innings with scoring guys when they got into scoring position which was kind of our problem all weekend. We just weren't able to get those timely hits. We have to be better in the field and more consistent on the mound."
The Wildcats will be back in action next weekend as they host Concordia University in a four-game series.
