LACEY, Wash. – Saint Martin's offense struggled to provide run support against the GNAC leader Northwest Nazarene as the Nighthawks took both ends of the doubleheader, 8-4 and 8-1 on Saturday.
 
Northwest Nazarene (17-3, 11-1 GNAC) jumped out early in both games, fending off a late comeback attempt by the Saints (4-10, 1-7 GNAC) in the early game. The Saints managed to load the bases in the ninth inning, and bring the tying the run to the plate, but were unable to deliver the clutch hits to tie the ballgame. The Nighthawks' pitching in the final game proved to be the difference maker, limiting the opportunities for the Saints to score.
 
Reid Little and Bryant Nakagawa delivered the RBI hits in the first game, driving in one each. The Saints also took advantage of a passed ball in the third and a wild pitch in the sixth to score runs. SMU got the score to within one, 4-3, after six, but a three-run home run in the seventh sealed the game for the Nighthawks.
 
The second game remained close until the final frame, when the Nighthawks scored half of their eight runs in the game. Saint Martin's did not get on the board until the final seventh inning, scoring one on a RBI double from pinch-hitter Michael Yamaguchi.
 
Aaron Renaud collected four of the Saints' nine hits on the day, while scoring three of SMU's five runs.
 
The Saints hit the road for their next GNAC match-up, traveling to Western Oregon on Friday, April 2 at 1:00 PM. Live stats and streaming will be available on smusaints.com.