NAMPA, Idaho – Against the high flying offense of Northwest Nazarene, the Saints were unable to find a way to quiet the bats, falling 9-1 and 8-4, on Friday.
 
The Nighthawks (12-2, 2-0 GNAC) connected on four home runs, with three coming from Maia McNicoll to power past the Saints (8-6, 0-2 GNAC). Saint Martin's after starting the year 7-1, have dropped five of the their last six, all coming on the road.
 
In the opener, Northwest Nazarene quickly jumped on SMU, using a three run home run in the first, and three more runs in the second to pad a 6-0 lead. The Saints' lone run of the game came in the third on a RBI groundout from Britney Patrick, driving home Emery Norwood.
 
NNU added one in the bottom half of third on a solo blast, followed by two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to finish the ballgame.
 
Saint Martin's managed to strike first in the second half of the day, scoring two in the first on a Patrick RBI single, and Kylie Lopez RBI double. However, the Nighthawks answered right back, scoring eight straight runs to open up an 8-2 lead.
 
Lopez connected on her first home of the year, and eighth of her career in the top of the seventh. A two run blast that cut the score in half, but ultimately the final runs of the game for SMU, falling 8-4.
 
The Saints and the Nighthawks face-off again, tomorrow, Saturday, at 11:00 AM with live stats and streaming links available on smusaints.com.