Joel Oliver's three-run home run put Northwest Nazarene ahead 5-3 in the third and the Crusaders went on to defeat Montana State Billings 7-3 in the opening game of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday at Billings.

The Crusaders (26-18, 18-9) also won the second game 9-4 to complete a four-game sweep of the series and run their win streak to eight. Montana State Billings (8-32, 7-21) has lost 15 in a row.

After Oliver's drive, Northwest Nazarene added insurance runs in the seventh on a double by Jon Keller and in the eighth on a single by Tyler Nicholson. The Crusaders finished with 15 base hits, four by Ryan VanBeek and three by Keller.

MSUB scored all three of its runs in the first off of J.T. Brodrick, two on a single by Kevin Zukaitis. Brodrick, however, blanked MSUB the rest of the way on five hits, finishing with a nine-hitter. He didn't walk a batter and struck out seven in evening his record at 5-5.

Keller had three hits, including a pair of doubles and a home run, and drove in four runs to key NNU's second-game victory.

The Crusaders combined four hits - including Keller's triple - and three errors for four runs in the third. Keller then did most of the rest of the damage doubling for a run in the sixth and driving in three runs in the seventh with another double.

NNU had a total of 15 hits in the contest, including three each from Keller, Cameron Louie and Ryan Udy. Jordan Kessler, Jaret Chatwood and Ty Sobieraj all had two for the Yellowjackets.

Zeb Sneed pitched the first six innings for the Crusaders, allowing eight hits and three runs to earn his third win against four losses.