Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
LACEY, Wash. - The Northwest Nazarene baseball team split their final Great Northwest Athletic Conference games of the season on Saturday afternoon at Saint Martin's University, winning game one 11-5, but falling in the nightcap 7-3.
The Crusaders finish the year 29-20 overall and will finish second in the GNAC pennant race at 21-11, marking their all-time highest league finish. Saint Martin's, who will conclude their season next weekend, is currently 19-26 overall and 14-14 in GNAC action.
Freshman Zeb Sneed (4-4) and reliever Kalen Hruza combined to hold Saint Martin's hitless through seven innings in the opener. Sneed went six and 2/3 innings, while Hruza got the final out of the seventh. Sneed struck out seven and did not issue a walk.
The Saints scored all five of their runs in the eighth, highlighted by a Sam Larsen three-run home run.
The Crusaders opened the offensive attack in the second, plating six runs on six hits, including Ryan VanBeek's lead-off home run, a two-run double by Ty Nicholson, and RBI singles by Sean McDonald and Greg Christensen. Jon Keller also collected an RBI, scoring McDonald on a fielder's choice.
Keller struck again in the fourth with a solo home run to centerfield, his fifth of the season, and Nicholson earned his third RBI of the game with a single through the left side that scored Ty Windall.
NNU went up 11-0 in the eighth as singles by Keller and Ryan Udy set the table for Joel Oliver, who delivered with an RBI double that scored Keller. A Windall sacrifice fly scored Udy and Cameron Louie singled Oliver home for the final NNU run of the game.
The Saints bounced back to win game two behind a strong pitching performance from James Douglas (4-0). Douglas pitched six innings and surrendered three earned runs on five hits.
NNU's Keller, Oliver, and Louie each had RBI's game two. Keller had an RBI double in the first, Oliver crushed his 11th home run of the season to lead-off the seventh, and Louie delivered an RBI single up the middle later in the seventh.
SMU used a big inning to take control of the game, scoring six runs in the fourth. SMU had just two hits in the frame, but used two NNU errors, one walk, and one hit batter to inflict the damage.
Keller (2-5) took the loss for the Crusaders, but did finish the day 3-for-9 with three RBI at the plate. Shortstop Cameron Louie finished 4-for-7 and also had three RBI.
