CALDWELL, Idaho –
Jonah Hultberg scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, as The College of Idaho earned a 5-4 victory in Game 1 of a doubleheader with rival Northwest Nazarene at Wolfe Field.
The Yotes (8-7) rallied from one-run deficits in both the ninth and 12th innings for the victory, but the Nighthawks used the big inning to win Game 2, 16-4.
C of I looked to have the opener in hand – taking a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning. Starter
Dimick Wood was dominant, allowing just one hit in six shutout innings, striking out six – getting a
Matthew Clay sacrifice fly in the second and a fifth inning Hultberg RBI single. However, the Nighthawks (3-1) got a one-out double by Grant Kerry and a pinch hit RBI single from Matthew Reynolds to pull within a run. Colton Moore followed with a long 2-run homer to give the visitors the lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, a one-out double from
Ben Dudley gave C of I hope – with Dudley scoring the tying run on a 2-out infield single by
Carter Vieira.
The score would remain tied at 3-3 into the 12th, when Ryan Dearing tripled with one out and scored on a Haden Keller sacrifice fly. C of I answered again, as
Ryan Nolan blooped a single into right and scored on a double into the gap by Hultberg – with Hultberg eventually scoring on a wild pitch to end the game.
Both Hultberg and Vieira had three hits in the win, while Dearing had three hits for NNU.
Game 2 was all NNU, jumping out to a 7-1 lead after three innings, while adding four runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to break open the game.
Shawn Grandmont had RBI singles in each of the first two innings and Kyle Payne ripped a 3-run homer to left in the third.
C of I got on the board in the second on a
Dillon Danner RBI single and added a
Matthew Clay RBI double in the fifth – but eight Coyote pitchers combined to allow eight walks and 16 hits and five errors led to seven unearned runs.
Clay, Dudley and
Tanner Leaf all had two-hit games for the Yotes, with Hultberg extending his hit streak to 10.
The Yotes hit the road this weekend, opening Cascade Conference play at Corban University.
