Idaho colleges: Northwest Nazarene baseball wins GNAC tournament
Ryan Johnson (Timberline High) hit a go-ahead, bases-clearing double, and Tyler Davis followed with a homer in a six-run sixth inning as the Crusaders defeated Western Oregon 9-8 in the conference title game Friday at Vail Field. Johnson went 4-for-5, and he and Davis had three RBIs apiece to lead NNU (31-21), which received a bye to the final by virtue of its No. 1 seed after all three participating teams went 1-1 on Thursday. The Wolves beat Montana State Billings 18-1 in Friday’s opener to advance.
COLLEGE OF IDAHO BASEBALL: The Yotes (38-20) are the No. 5 seed in the Santa Barbara Bracket for the NAIA National Championships Opening Round, and they will open tournament play against No. 4 seed William Carey (37-19) at 10 a.m. MT Tuesday. The winner will face top-seeded Westmont (41-11) at 5 p.m. that day. The winner of the double-elimination tournament, which also includes Madonna (41-15) and The Master’s (38-17), advances to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston. The C of I will make its seventh NAIA tournament appearance and seeks its sixth appearance, which includes the 1998 national championship. No. 4 Lewis-Clark State, the defending champion, will host the tournament for the 17th straight year.
BOISE STATE TRACK AND FIELD: Minttu Huuka earned a guaranteed spot into the NCAA West Regional with a second-place finish in the women’s steeplechase at the Mountain West Championships on Friday in Clovis, Calif. The sophomore from Finland led most of the way before finishing in 10 minutes, 14.06 seconds. Courtney Hutchinson added a third-place effort in the shot put (49 feet, 7 inches), and the Broncos are fifth in the team race with 16 points. On Thursday night, Elijah Armstrong (Pocatello High) became the first Bronco ever and the first freshman in 15 years to win the MW men’s 10,000 meters, finishing in 30:08.25. Yusuke Uchikoshi added a fourth in the men’s steeplechase (9:11.87) for BSU, which is sixth with 21 points.
GNAC TRACK AND FIELD: Northwest Nazarene sophomore Payton Lewis (Nampa Christian High) won the men’s pole vault, and Zach McClanahan (Meridian) and Jared Webster completed a Crusader sweep of the top three at the GNAC Championships in Monmouth, Ore. Lewis cleared 4.91 meters (16 feet, 1 1/4 inches) to repeat as champion, beating his teammates by 4 inches. Seattle Pacific’s Peyton Harris (Boise) took the long jump (23-5 1/2) by a quarter-inch over Western Washington’s Kevin Yates. NNU is fourth with 32 1/2 points, 17 1/2 behind WWU. The NNU women, led by Brooklyn Daylong’s (Vallivue) second-place finish in the discus (139-1 1/2), are second with 48 1/2 points. Lexi Tubbs was second in the 100-meter hurdle prelims, setting a program record (14.11).
C OF I MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: Joseph Bolin (Payette High) became the first C of I man to break 49 seconds in the 400 (48.81), and Dan Williams took the 10,000 (32:19.90) to pace a pack of five Yotes in the top six as the C of I took the lead after day one of the Cascade Conference Championships. Max Hampton (Eagle) was second in the 1,500 (32:26.83, NAIA qualifier) and 10,000. The 4x100 relay (52.17, third place) and Taylor Oppedyk (145-10, fifth) also broke program records for the Yotes, who have 104 points and lead Southern Oregon by four.
C OF I WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: Tiana Thomas (Middleton High) won the 100-meter hurdles (15.08 seconds) and 400-meter dash (56.54), and the Yotes lead the Cascade Conference Championships with 108 points after the first day. Thomas also was fourth in the high jump (5-1) to add to her conference heptathlon title. Amy Pfaff won the 1,500 (4:33.22), Hayley Morse (Borah) won the shot put (42 feet, 0.75 inches) and was second in the hammer throw (132-5), and Nichole DeGrange (Mountain View) hit an NAIA automatic qualifying mark in the 400 (56.83, second place).
BSU BASEBALL: The Broncos lost to top-seeded Oregon 12-0 to open the National Club Baseball Association Northern Pacific Regional at Memorial Stadium. BSU faces Western Washington in a loser-out game at 11 a.m. Saturday.
BSU SOFTBALL: The Broncos (14-37, 6-17 Mountain West) lost at San Diego State 7-6 in eight innings.
IDAHO TENNIS: The Vandals (19-9) lost to No. 8 Pepperdine 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Malibu, Calif. Idaho reached nationals for the third straight season.
This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Idaho colleges: Northwest Nazarene baseball wins GNAC tournament."