BILLINGS, Mont. - The Northwest Nazarene baseball team split a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader at Montana State University Billings this afternoon, falling 9-7 in game one, but bouncing back to claim game two 3-2.

The games were a make-up of the rained-out twinbill originally scheduled for March 20th in Nampa.  The Crusaders played as the home team this afternoon.

The two teams will be back in action at 1 p.m. at Dehler Park
tomorrow, Friday, April 20, for their second doubleheader of the
weekend. The Yellowjackets will switch to the home team for the
remainder of the weekend six-game series.

The following game stories courtesy of MSU-Billings media relations...

Game One: MSUB 9, NNU 7

In the day's first game, NNU put up four runs in the opening stanza in
a game that could only be called an offensive explosion. The two teams
would go on to record 27 hits between the two with NNU slightly edging
out MSUB 14-13 off hits.

In the top of the second inning, the 'Jackets knotted the score with
four runs of their own off four hits and a Crusader error. Jordan
Carlson, Trevor Wilson and Ty Gilmore all scored off RBIs while Austin
Rue crossed the dish safely thanks to a wild pitch.

NNU added another two runs in the bottom of the inning when Zach
Steele singled to center field to score Ben Clare and Sean McDonald.

It would be the last runs the Crusaders would score until the fifth
inning when Kaleb DeHass scored off a single to left center field by
Clare.

MSUB tied the game back up in the top of the fourth inning and again
in the top of the sixth.

The Yellowjackets claimed their first lead of the game in the top of
the seventh inning when Carlson found the plate off a passed ball.
Carlson was responsible for batting in the final run of the game in
the eighth inning as he knocked a single through the left side to move
Blake Nelson home to add the insurance run.

Gilmore was 3-5 with two RBIs and another run scored in the day's opener.

McDonald led the way for NNU in the game with a 4-6 performance at the
plate that included scoring two runs.

Lucas Blehm pitched four and a third innings to record his first
decision of the season as he gave up just one run.Bobby Ragasa then
came in for the final two and a third innings to earn his fourth save
of the year.

Barrett Nielson suffered his first loss of the year in just a third of
an inning of work as he gave up the go-ahead run.

Game Two: NNU 3, MSUB 2

The second game was the exact opposite from the first as the two teams
combined for just nine hits. Second baseman Brody Miller led the way
at the plate for MSUB with a 2-3 performance that included scoring one
of the Yellowjackets' two runs.

Steele was the other player to record multiple hits in the game as he
had two knocks of his own in three official at-bats.

MSUB struck first in the night-cap with two runs in the first inning.
Gilmore scored off a double by Colby Robison to right-center field and
Miller crossed off a single through the left side by Blake Loran.

The lead would hold into the third inning when the Crusaders found two
runs to avoid the shutout. Steele would then give NNU the necessary
run to take the lead off a home run over the left field wall. The
Crusaders would hold on for the final half an inning to earn the
split.

Zach Smith pitched the complete game for MSUB and had a no-hitter
going into the third inning before he gave up the first knock. He
ended the day with three strikeouts to move to 3-1 for the year.

Aaron Vaughn improved to 3-2 for the year after going the entire game
on the mound as well, striking out five batters.