Box Score

CARSON, Calif. – Colben McGuire carried the Crusaders for eight innings Thursday in California, but he couldn't do it all himself.

The one-run woes continued for the Northwest Nazarene baseball team, which collected just one run on three hits in a 2-1 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills in a nonconference contest at Toro Field.

"Colben McGuire threw his tail off tonight, I was so proud of his courage," said NNU coach Rocke Musgraves, who added, "but, unfortunately, we failed, once again, to drive in runs under pressure."

The loss was the fourth one-run setback for NNU (0-6 overall) during the team's 10-day, nine-game season-opening road trip, which continues Friday with a doubleheader starting at noon (MT) at CSU Dominguez Hills.

"We're not going to give up, but we've got to set a different tone if this program is going to start winning championships," Musgraves added.

The Toros (3-1 overall) managed just three hits in the ballgame, themselves, but made the most of them as Jordan Yallen hustled home with the game's first run in the third when Danny Haley's two-out grounder to short led to a run-down.

Just before Crusader shortstop Ben Circeo tagged out Taylor Kahanowitch at second base, Yallen crossed the plate for an early 1-0 edge.

Cal State Dominguez Hills pushed the lead to a slim 2-0 with another two-out run in the bottom of the sixth as Haley scored on Peter Ives' grounder through the left side of the NNU infield.

NNU responded immediately in the top of the seventh as Tate Glasgow was hit by a pitch before Sam Cook doubled, putting runners at second and third.

Andrew Helmstadter put the Crusaders on the board with a one-out RBI groundout, but that was all NNU could muster as the Toros pitchers retired the next seven Crusader batters in order to close out the win.

"Baseball's a fickle game, it seems when things are going good, balls will drop and teams will hit line-drives right at you," Musgraves said.