BILLINGS, Mont. – Completing a series and season sweep of the Montana State University Billings baseball team on Saturday afternoon at Dehler Park, visiting Northwest Nazarene University won both ends of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader.
 
The first-place Nighthawks, who are ranked No. 10 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association top-25 poll this week, took the opener 9-5 before completing the sweep with a 10-5 win in the nightcap. NNU improved to 23-5 overall on the season and further distanced itself at the top of the league standings at 17-3 in conference games.
 
MSUB slipped to 5-23 overall on the season and is now 5-15 in GNAC games. Daniel Cipriano hit his GNAC-leading 12th home run of the season and the 37th of his career in Game 2, while Joey Castelli added his second long ball of the weekend in the series finale for the Yellowjackets.
 
Game 1 – Northwest Nazarene 9, MSU Billings 5
 
The Nighthawks struck first and relied on a very solid showing from their bullpen to claim the victory in Game 1. Shane Martin, Blake McFadden, and Max Holtzclaw combined to allow just one run on four hits with nine strikeouts and two walks over the final seven innings of the game.
 
The Yellowjackets led 4-2 after the second inning, thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Will Riley, and a three-run second inning highlighted by an RBI-double off the bat of Tanner Parker. The Yellowjackets advanced just two runners past second base the rest of the game however, one of which was Sam Powers coming around to score MSUB's final run on an RBI-double by Carson Green in the fifth inning.
 
Colton Moore hit a two-run home run in the top of the first, and the Nighthawks pulled even with a single run in the third and fourth innings. The momentum-swinging blow came in the fifth, when Quentin Ayers unloaded a two-out, three-run home run to left field that gave the Nighthawks a 7-4 advantage.
 
After hitting a solo home run in the third, Grant Kerry added his team-leading ninth long ball of the year with a two-run shot in the eighth to give NNU's bullpen some breathing room. After McFadden finished his third shutout inning of relief, Holtzclaw struck out three of the five hitters he faced en route to his fourth save of the season.
 
Brooks Zimmer started on the mound for MSUB and allowed seven runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and three walks in five innings of work. Sterling Lay contributed two shutout innings out of the bullpen, and Braelen Pippin and Diego Hernandez combined to toss the final two frames of the game.
 
Game 2 – Northwest Nazarene 10, MSU Billings 5 (7 Innings)
 
A seven-run third inning was the difference in the series finale, as an early lead slipped away from the Yellowjackets. Cipriano hit a two-run homer and Castelli had an RBI-ground out in a three-run first inning, but the Yellowjackets didn't score again until the sixth as the Nighthawks gained momentum with their big third frame.
 
NNU starter Spencer Schwehr earned his fourth win of the year, giving up five runs on five hits with four strikeouts and one walk in 5 2/3 innings of work. Ty Huekman and Joseph Ihli gave up one baserunner over the final 1 1/3 innings to secure the series sweep for the Nighthawks.
 
After the Nighthawks got on the board with a pair of runs in the second, the flood gates opened with 11 batters coming to the plate in the lengthy third inning. Haden Keller had a two-run base hit, Walker Moore had an RBI-double, and Shawn Grandmont had a sacrifice fly to highlight the biggest inning of the day.
 
NNU added a final run in the sixth inning on an RBI-double by Cody Nisbet, as the visitors proved to have plenty of insurance to withstand MSUB's final rally attempt of the series.
 
After he posted four consecutive zeros through the middle innings, Schwehr allowed a two-run home run off the bat of Castelli in the sixth to bring the score to 10-5. The lefty recovered and got the next hitter out, before giving way to the bullpen to finish off the game.
 
Tanner Parker went 2-for-3 for the 'Jackets, who managed six hits in the series finale. Alex Salsman went 3-for-5 for NNU while Keller and Moore each led the team with a pair of RBIs.
 
MSUB starter Mason Abrath gave up eight runs on seven hits with four walks in his two innings of work. Mason Powell and Matthew Houlihan combined to give up just one run on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks over the final five innings of the day.
 
THE BUZZ: Houlihan was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…Riley's home run was his sixth of the season…MSUB is now 56-57 all-time against NNU and is 26-28 in games played in Billings…NNU went 8-0 against MSUB this spring after winning all four of the games between the teams in Nampa, Idaho on March 12-13.
 
NEXT WEEK: The Yellowjackets head west for their final road trip of the 2021 season, with a four-game series at Saint Martin's University scheduled for April 23-24 in Lacey, Washington. Live coverage for next week's road games will be available online here.