NNU baseball looks for first national title; C of I softball wraps up historic season
The baseball team at Northwest Nazarene University already made history this spring, and the Nighthawks aren’t done yet.
NNU set the program record for wins in a season (34) and posted the best winning percentage (.810) in team history. Now it is one of the final eight teams playing for the Division II national championship.
“We play our best with our backs against the wall,” NNU manager Joe Schaefer said. “We have a lot left in the tank. We’re not done yet.”
The Nighthawks (34-8) earned the last seed in the finals bracket. They hit the road on Thursday and will open the double-elimination championship tournament Saturday at the USA Baseball Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina, against No. 1 Central Missouri. The first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Central Missouri was ranked in the top three of the D-II Power Rankings all season, and the Mules ended the regular season by unseating 2019 national runner-up Colorado Mesa for the top spot.
Central Missouri (43-6) has scored 454 runs this season. The ace of its pitching staff, Mason Green, is 14-0 with a 2.55 ERA, and the Mules have two members of their everyday lineup hitting over .400: Josh Schumacher (.422) and Dusty Stroup (.405), who leads the team with 20 home runs.
NNU has scored more than 100 fewer runs than the Mules this spring (352), and its top hitter — former Boise State player Grant Kerry — is batting .359. Don’t count the Nighthawks out just yet, though. They’ve proven to be a tough out this postseason.
Trailing Western Oregon by three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in the West Regional last Friday in Nampa, it looked like NNU’s historic run was about to come to an end. But the Nighthawks weren’t ready to call it quits.
John Gonzalez’s team-leading 17th home run of the season was a three-run shot that tied the game, and former Centennial High standout Alex Salsman sent a two-run shot over the right-field fence to seal the 7-5 come-from-behind victory.
“We’ve been going at it since October, and me and the fellow seniors realize this is it. We’re never going to get this opportunity again,” Gonzalez said after the game. “Not that many people get this opportunity, and we not only want to cherish it, but we want to take advantage of it.”
NNU went on to beat Western Oregon 12-6 in Game 5 of the West Regional series to earn the final spot in the championship bracket.
Gonzalez is one of three Nighthawks with more than 10 home runs this season. Kerry — a native of England, who transferred to NNU after Boise State’s program was cut last summer — is second on the team with 11, and Shawn Grandmont has racked up 10 homers and a team-high 58 RBIs.
The Nighthawks’ pitching staff has been aided by a strong bullpen, led Blake McFadden and Max Holtzclaw, who are a combined 9-1 with 71 strikeouts. McFadden, a lefty from Meridian High, leads the team with a 1.98 ERA, while Kyle Ethridge is 6-1 in 11 starts and has 86 strikeouts to his credit.
Yotes softball takes bronze
A historic season came to an end for the College of Idaho softball team on Tuesday when the Yotes lost 9-0 to Southern Oregon, wrapping up a third-place finish at the NAIA World Series.
College of Idaho capped a memorable season with its deepest postseason run in program history, and that was just one of the team’s many highlights.
The Yotes (44-19) set a program record for wins in a season, their coach Al Mendiola won his 400th career game and freshman pitcher Annie Polster threw a perfect game in a 15-0 win over Providence in March.
Two players earned second-team NFCA All-Region III selections: pitcher Katelyn Wilfert and freshman Kaily Christensen, who hit .362 and racked up a team-high 50 RBIs. Wilfert, a Rocky Mountain High graduate, went 19-6 in the pitching circle with a 1.90 ERA and 127 strikeouts.
Micha Fortune led the Yotes’ regular starters with a .374 batting average, while Haley Loffer led the team with 11 home runs.
