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CARSON, Calif. – The Crusader offense finally broke loose, lifting an elephant-like weight off the team's shoulders and handing first-year NNU coach Rocke Musgraves his first Crusader victory.

Anthony Flatt's two-run double to center broke open a close ballgame and ignited a five-run rally for Northwest Nazarene, which took the finale of a nonconference doubleheader, 7-3, at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday.

"This is one of the hardest ones to get, even though I felt a lot more confident going into this game knowing that Aaron Vaughn was going to be on the mound," Musgraves said. "You just had to wonder when our hitters were going to get confident enough to bang it around a little bit."

That confidence appeared in the top of the fifth, with the Crusaders (1-7 overall) already leading 1-0 on an RBI single by Kyle Thomson in the top of the third.

Flatt's two-run swing got things rolling, and Josh Hatfield followed suit with a two-run single to left. Ben Circeo then capped a five-run rally with an RBI single to left, giving Vaughn a 6-0 lead.

That proved to be more than enough for the senior right-hander from Tucson, Ariz., as Vaughn blew 90 mile per hour fastballs past Toro hitters for much of the game, only giving up a few runs late after his teammates had given him plenty of breathing room.

"I really like how Aaron Vaughn attacked the strike-zone today with his fastball," Musgraves said. "He earned the right to throw his breaking ball today because he got ahead with his fastball."

While Vaughn (1-1) led the way on the hill with the complete-game, 10-strikeout win, Flatt led the offense, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Tyler Marsh and Ryan Johnson also added a pair of hits each in the victory.

"I thought we did some little things correct today that we haven't been doing, like running the bases with smarts and our head up, instead of running into silly outs," Musgraves added of his team's effort in the twinbill, which started with a 3-2 loss to CSU Dominguez Hills (4-2).

But, NNU put up a good battle in the opener as Nick Bland (0-2) came on in relief in the fourth for an injured Jake Reppert, and Bland painted the corners like Picasso to give his team a chance.

The Toros plated a run each in the second and third innings before Bland took over and cruised into the seventh, where NNU rallied as Sam Cook doubled home a run and Hatfield tied the game, 2-2, with an RBI groundout.

But a two-out, lazy line drive to left by David Steininger chased home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh for the Toros.

NNU loaded the bases in the eighth but could not score, and left runners at first and second in the ninth in the team's fifth one-run loss this season.

Flatt added two hits in the opener for NNU, finishing the doubleheader 5-of-8 for the Crusaders, who conclude a nine-game, 10-day road trip with a single game Saturday at noon (MT) at CSU Dominguez Hills.