SAN DIEGO - The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team scored in each of the first four innings but was unable to hold that momentum, falling 10-7 to Northwest Nazarene University in the opener of the 2022 NCAA Championship West Regional on an overcast Thursday afternoon.

The three-team West #1 sub-regional is being held on the campus of top-seeded host Point Loma Nazarene University at Carroll B. Land Stadium, also known as America's Most Scenic Ballpark.

With the loss, fifth-seeded CPP drops to 35-18 overall. The Broncos had come in as winners of a season-best eight in a row. Fourth-seeded reigning West Region champion Northwest Nazarene improves to 31-21. It was the first-ever meeting between the programs.

CPP is the automatic entrant out of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), as it earned a third CCAA Tournament title in school history, and second straight, last Saturday afternoon up in Chico. NNU, located in Nampa, Idaho, is an at-large qualifier from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), having lost in that tourney's winner-take-all final at Western Oregon later Saturday.

Cal Poly Pomona drops into an elimination game for itself right away on Thursday against third-ranked Point Loma, which started right around 2:40 p.m. A live stream is available, for free, by clicking HERE. NNU will play the Sea Lions at 11 a.m. on Friday, regardless of that result.

The designated visitor as the lower seed, CPP struck for a pair in the first. Graduate student second baseman Ryon Knowles lined a 2-2 pitch just inside the right field line for a leadoff double. Johnny Pappas followed by slicing an opposite-field single, also to right, to put Broncos at the corners for Cesar Lopez. The fifth-year senior rightfielder's infield single off the diving third baseman scored Knowles. Ricky Nuñez's grounder for the first out advanced both teammates a base, and another groundout by Jacob Lopez sent Pappas home for a 2-0 advantage.

Will Rudy registered his first out on his very first toss, a flyout to AJ Nimeh in center. The Bronco ace surrendered a pair of singles around an initial punch-out, but got a soft lineout to shortstop Nick Lugo to notch the shutdown frame.

Nighthawk starter Brock Moffitt looked to be on his way to a clean second by virtue of back-to-back swinging strikeouts, but the Broncos' No. 9 hitter, first baseman Casey Slattery, lifted one into the jet stream in right center for his team-leading seventh home run. It was the CCAA Tournament Co-Most Valuable Player's second postseason long ball.

The home second began with a walk, single and RBI double by Colton Moore. Rudy then also issued a free pass to Ryan Dearing to bring up the top of the NNU order with the bases full and still nobody out. A sacrifice fly by Parker Price made it 3-2. Rudy fell behind 3-0 to Tyler Best before inducing an infield-fly-rule pop-up to Slattery. Rudy got Haden Keller swinging for a second time to preserve the narrow edge.

The Broncos opened the third by getting a hit-by-pitch and a walk out of Moffitt. The fifth-year junior southpaw got a huge 4-6-3 double play, but that moved Cesar Lopez over to third, and Lugo came through with a huge two-out RBI double to right center to make it a 4-2 game. CPP in fact got both of those runs back from the previous half, as Tyler Chaffee dropped an RBI single into left.

Three easy fly balls gave Rudy a quick, much-needed 1-2-3 third.

Northwest Nazarene went to the bullpen to start the fourth, and promptly filled the bags without an out recorded on a walk to Slattery and successive hit-by-pitches at the top of the order. Cesar Lopez's fly ball to left wasn't deep enough to score Slattery. The Nighthawks got a huge called third strike, but Jacob Lopez managed to come up with a first-pitch RBI single right back up the middle. The NNU second baseman's diving stop to keep the ball on the infield actually saved a run. The Broncos would go on to rue not getting more than one score there.

Rudy notched two more fly-ball outs in the home fourth on just six pitches to Nimeh and Chaffee, respectively, before Dearing, like Slattery, found that stream in right center as a left-handed bat at the very bottom of the order. His first home run as a third-year Nighthawk, with the count at 1-2, made it 6-3 before a strikeout ended the frame.

Rudy put together his second perfect inning in the fifth, getting a nice play from Lugo for starters before a flyout to Nuñez and a strikeout.

The home sixth began with back-to-back singles through the right side to put Nighthawks at the corners and bring the tying run to the plate. A first-pitch Grant Kerry sacrifice fly pulled one back. A walk and two-out infield single loaded the bases, and Rudy missed with a 3-1 offering to Best to force in a fifth NNU tally. He then blew a 2-2 pitch past Keller to retire him for the fourth straight time, three of them on strikes, to end his day with a 6-5 edge narrowly still intact.

That lead did not exist for much longer, as Duke Pahukoa and Salsman each belted 0-1 pitches back-to-back to begin the home seventh to flip the lead in NNU's favor for the first time, 7-6. Pahukoa's opposite-field shot to right was his ninth to tie him for the team lead, with Alex Salsman pulling his sixth deep to left center. The Nighthawks added a third in the frame on a single, balk and two-out RBI knock by Dearing.

CPP got one of those runs right back when Chaffee launched his fourth home run of 2022 to straightaway center to lead off the eighth, marking the fifth solo blast of the afternoon between the two sides. Nimeh then reached on the first error by either team, and Slattery was plunked by Blake McFadden to bring up the top of the order. Knowles popped his bunt up to McFadden, who then threw a 3-2 pitch by Pappas. A groundout kept the Nighthawks in front, 8-7.

A walk began the home eighth and NNU grabbed some insurance via two-out, two-run double off the wall in left center by Kerry.

Rudy threw 6.0 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits and a season-high four walks. The third-year freshman right-hander struck out five. Matt Orozco (2-1) took the loss.

Knowles finished 2-for-4 with a double, hit-by-pitch and run. Slattery was 1-for-2 with his home run, a walk, hit-by-pitch, two runs and an RBI. Chaffee went 2-for-4 with a long ball, run and two RBI. Jacob Lopez also drove in two.

Moffitt gave up five runs on seven hits, a hit-by-pitch and one walk over 3.0 frames. The first-year UC Davis transfer and San Diego native out of Valley Center fanned four. Joseph Ihli (3-1) posted a 1-2-3 fifth to throw up the first zero for his side. The sophomore right-hander duplicated that effort in the sixth, with his third strikeout, and got three simple ground-ball outs to breeze through the seventh. He would go on to earn the win, while Max Holtzclaw gave the Nighthawks two final outs for his 13th save, which ties the senior right-hander for the Division II lead.

Click HERE to access West Region #1 Tournament Central.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 355-218 (.620) overall and 18-14 (.563) in its seventh NCAA Championship appearance under 12th-year head coach Randy Betten ... CPP is 12-12 away from home in 2022, 3-1 in neutral-site affairs, 2-3 against GNAC clubs, and 20-4 since the calendar flipped to April ... Betten posted the same batting lineup for the eighth consecutive contest ... Ryon Knowles led off for the eighth game in a row and 12th time in 2022 ... Will Rudy made his 16th collegiate appearance, with his 13 career mound starts all coming this season ... Rudy's strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8.27 at the start of the day was second in the CCAA and fifth in Division II ... Rudy has gone at least 5.2 innings in all 13 of his starts in 2022, and allowed more than one walk three times, all coming over his last three starts in May ... Rudy's strikeout-to-walk ratio dropped to 6.40, with 96 strikeouts against 15 walks ... Of Rudy's 15 walks, three have scored, with the third one today after NNU's Rumble Reyes became his fifth walk to start a frame and came around in the second ... CPP is 11-2 in Rudy starts, and 11-1 when he goes at least 6.0 innings ... Knowles' leadoff double in the first was his 14th this season, and extended his reached-base streak to a current team-best 25 games ... Nick Lugo's double in the third was his eighth, and advanced his season-best reached-base streak to 22 games ... Casey Slattery's leadoff walk in the fourth was his CCAA-best 41st, with the eighth-inning hit-by-pitch his 11th ... Knowles' fourth-inning hit-by-pitch was his ninth, with Johnny Pappas' hit-by-pitch later in the same frame his team-leading 14th ... Two more walks increased the Broncos' CCAA-leading total to 294, with CPP having entered Thursday tied for sixth nationally ... In its 14th all-time NCAA Championship appearance, CPP is 50-29 overall, 29-20 in West Regional action, 27-15 in neutral-site games, 0-1 against NNU, 1-1 against GNAC sides, and 0-1 at Carroll B. Land Stadium ... CPP is 9-4 all-time at Carroll B. Land Stadium, with the previous 12 games all against Point Loma (seven straight wins there entering Thursday, going back to 1996), and 3-1 there with Betten in charge ... CPP entered Collegiate Baseball's top 30 Monday morning for the first time this season, at No. 27 ... The Broncos' record as a top-30 team under Betten is 117-63.

2022 NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - WEST REGION #1
HOSTED BY POINT LOMA - SAN DIEGO

SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MAY 19
Game 1 - #4 Northwest Nazarene 10, #5 Cal Poly Pomona 7
Game 2 - #1 Point Loma vs. #5 Cal Poly Pomona, 2:40 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 20
Game 3 - #4 Northwest Nazarene vs. #1 Point Loma, 11 a.m.
(If two teams remain after Game 2, turns into best-of-three series between remaining participants, with doubleheader Friday and an if-necessary decider Saturday)
Game 4 - TBD, 2 p.m.

SATURDAY, MAY 21
Game 5 - TBD, 12 p.m. (If necessary)

2022 NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - WEST REGION #2
HOSTED BY AZUSA PACIFIC - AZUSA, CA

SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MAY 19
Game 1 - #3 Cal State Monterey Bay vs. #6 Western Oregon, 2 p.m.
Game 2 - #2 Azusa Pacific vs. Loser of Game 1, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 20
Game 3 - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner/Loser of Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 4 - TBD, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY, MAY 21
Game 5 - TBD, 1 p.m. (If necessary)

2022 NCAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - WEST SUPER REGIONAL
Hosted by Highest Remaining Seed - May 27-28
Winner of West Region #1 vs. Winner of West Region #2 (best-of-three series)