NAMPA, Idaho – The No. 15 Colorado Mesa baseball team's comeback effort fell short in a 11-6 loss to the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on Thursday (Feb. 23) afternoon at Vail Field during non-conference action.
 
The Nighthawks plated six runs in the first inning and Colorado Mesa could never fully recover from that but made things interesting in the middle innings.
 
After going ahead 8-0 after two innings the Mavericks mounted an attack. They got one back in the third inning after Paul Schoenfeld singled with one out in the inning. Ethan Ezor delivered a double to right center followed by a RBI ground out by Conrad Villafuerte to put the Mavericks on the board.
 
In the next inning the Mavericks scored five runs on five hits to cut the Nighthawk lead to 8-6. Schoenfeld drew a bases loaded walk followed by a run scoring balk. Then, Ezor belted a three-run home run to left field to deliver the big blow in the inning.
 
That was as close the Mavericks would get while Northwest Nazarene added three insurance runs in the sixth inning.
 
Ezor finished the game 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, three runs driven in and a run scored.
 
Harrison Rodgers, Declan Wiesner, and Kolby Felix all had multiple hits in the game.
 
Isaac Hayen was saddled with the loss in the game but there was a dominant performance out of the pen for Colorado Mesa. Liam Hohenstein pitched the final two innings, and he walked one while striking out five in the game.
 
The Mavericks and Nighthawks will continue their series on Friday with a doubleheader scheduled for Noon.