By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications
NAMPA, Idaho – Winning its third consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championships trophy on Friday night under the lights at Vail Field, Northwest Nazarene twice defeated Western Oregon to secure the championship trophy.
Freshman
Elliot Brown delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning in the decisive game, prompting a dogpile just past first base as nightfall set in on the Nighthawks’ home diamond. It was the first time in conference history that a baseball team won three consecutive tournament titles, and it was the fifth overall by NNU. The Nighthawks have won the event all three times it has occurred in Nampa, taking home the trophy in both 2021 and 2016 at Vail Field.
NNU’s
Gavin Brubaker was selected as the GNAC Championships Most Valuable Player, leading all players with 12 RBIs and three home runs across the two-day tournament.
| 2026 GNAC Baseball Championships All-Tournament Team |
| Player |
Position |
School |
| Logan Larrance |
SP |
Western Oregon |
| Dillon Eden |
SP |
Northwest Nazarene |
| Hunter Lutman |
RP |
Western Oregon |
| Wade Duncan |
RP |
Northwest Nazarene |
| Collin Irwin |
C |
Western Oregon |
| Kaleb Karpstein |
1B |
Northwest Nazarene |
| Jack Nehler |
2B |
Montana State Billings |
| Zane Garvey |
3B |
Western Oregon |
| Chris Arce |
SS |
Western Oregon |
| Gavin Brubaker (MVP) |
SS |
Northwest Nazarene |
| Jayger Baldwin |
OF |
Western Oregon |
| Carter Walsh |
OF |
Northwest Nazarene |
| Adrian Arechiga |
OF |
Northwest Nazarene |
Game 1: Northwest Nazarene 18, Western Oregon 4 | Box Score
The Nighthawk offense struck early and often in the first game of the day, ensuring an if-necessary contest to conclude the tournament. NNU scored in 7 of 9 innings in the opener, building a 7-1 advantage through four and never looking back on its way to the lopsided victory. All-tournament selection
Adrian Arechiga launched a two-run home run – the first of five in the game by the Nighthawks – in the top of the second inning to spot the hosts to a 2-0 cushion. Brubaker added his first of two homers in the game to make the score 7-0 in the fourth, and the Nighthawks were never in danger of surrendering the lead after that.
All-tournament selection
Chris Arce of Western Oregon hit a pair of home runs, but both were solo shots and stood as the only offense WOU could muster across the first eight innings of the contest. NNU starter
Dillon Eden earned his seventh victory of the year, allowing two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and two walks across 7 1/3 innings pitched.
AJ Hendrickson tossed the final 1 2/3 frames without issue, protecting the advantage and helping the Nighthawks force the decisive final contest.
WOU starter
Shane Bailey was tagged for 11 runs – 10 earned – on 14 hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 6 2/3 innings pitched.
Brubaker finished the game 4-for-6 with six RBIs and four runs scored, while Walsh was 4-for-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored. NNU totaled 22 hits in the contest, matching its second-highest mark of the 2026 campaign.
Game 2: Northwest Nazarene 7, Western Oregon 6 | Box Score
With their backs against the wall trailing 6-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Nighthawks stormed back to plate three runs and win the GNAC Championships title. Arechiga raced home on Brown’s medium-deep fly ball to center field to end the game and the championship tournament. That came after an error by the Wolves allowed a leadoff baserunner and
Kaleb Karpstein followed with a double to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs.
The win by the Nighthawks overshadowed one of the most outstanding performances of the entire tournament, which came from Western Oregon reliever
Hunter Lutman. Taking over in the second inning, the right-hander authored 6 1/3 stellar frames on the hill, limiting the Nighthawks to two runs – one earned – on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Midway through his 107-pitch effort, Lutman wrote off an apparent blood blister on his pitching hand as he continued to miss barrels and keep WOU in the driver’s seat into the ninth inning. After six scoreless frames, a fielding miscue aided NNU in getting to the otherwise-dominant Wolves right-hander in the final inning.
NNU got off to a hot start in the decisive game, scoring four runs across the first two innings to build an early advantage. Much like they did in each of their wins on Thursday, the Wolves proved they were up to the task of coming back with six unanswered runs to take the lead across the middle innings. Four different WOU players had RBIs in the fourth-through-seventh innings, with
Gunnar Shiotani plating two of them including the final WOU run of the game on an infield single in the top of the seventh.
Zane Garvey,
Robby Shepherd and
Jayger Baldwin each finished with a pair of knocks for WOU in the decisive game, while Shiotani was the lone Wolf to drive in multiple runs. Karpstein finished 3-for-4 with two runs to lead the Nighthawks, and Brubaker posted a line of 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Wade Duncan earned the win for NNU, shutting down WOU with four strikeouts to combat two hits and one walk across three scoreless frames on his way to an all-tournament performance.
LOOKING AHEAD: The NCAA selection show is scheduled for 10 p.m. (Eastern) on Sunday. The NCAA will announce the complete field for the 2026 Division II baseball postseason tournament, with the Nighthawks ranked fifth as of last week’s release. The top-six teams in the west region advance to the NCAA tournament.