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NAMPA, Idaho – A successful day, but not quite perfect.

Crusader coach Rocke Musgraves enjoyed watching the fight in his team Tuesday afternoon in the opener of a nonconference doubleheader against Hawaii Hilo, but he just wanted another run or two.

The Northwest Nazarene baseball team nearly battled all the way back from a 9-1 deficit before coming up 90-feet short, falling 10-9 to the Vulcans.

Undaunted by the close loss, NNU responded by taking the nightcap 4-0 to claim 3-of-4 in the nonconference series.

"I'm just a believer we can come back and win those games," Musgraves said of the opener, which NNU trailed 9-1 in the fourth. "I'm disappointed, we should have won that game, I'm not just happy that we came back to lose by one.

"Good for us for putting ourselves in a position to win that game, but shame on us for not coming through under pressure again."

Freshmen pitchers Nathan Emerson and Noah Starr set the tone for the comeback as Emerson worked 4 1-3 innings of strong relief, giving up three runs to stymie the Vulcans offense, while Starr worked two more scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

"I thought Noah Starr and Emerson gave us some real nice innings," Musgraves said.

That allowed the Crusaders (4-9 overall) to chip away, as Tyler Marsh and Ryan Johnson singled in runs in the bottom of the fourth, then a Kaleb DeHaas base on balls in the fifth closed the gap to 9-4.

The Vulcans tacked on a run in the seventh on an RBI single to left by Sam Kim, which proved to be the winner as the Crusaders closed quickly.

A DeHaas RBI fielder's choice made it 10-5 in the bottom of the seventh, then Jeremy Richardson blasted a three-run homer down the left-field line, getting the Crusaders as close as 10-8 back.

"This club feeds off positive energy and if we can keep from getting down when the game doesn't hand us something then we're going to be OK," Musgraves said.

Then, in the bottom of the ninth, NNU loaded the bases with no one out and got a Richardson RBI groundout, making the score 10-9 and pushing the tying run to third base.

But a shallow fly-out to left by Tate Glasgow followed by a groundout to short by Anthony Flatt allowed the Vulcans (1-3) to escape with the win.

Not letting the negative affects of the opener linger, NNU went to work quickly as Andrew Helmstadter had an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second and Nick Morelli added an RBI groundout in the fourth, putting the Crusaders up 2-0 in the nightcap.

A Morelli RBI fielder's choice followed by a DeHaas squeeze bunt drove home two more runs in the sixth, padding the lead for Crusader pitchers Marsh and Andrew Groves.

Marsh (1-1) dominated, striking out two and scattering three hits in 6 1-3 innings work to earn the win.

When he got into trouble, he turned it over to Groves who earned his first save of the season facing one batter and inducing a double-play ground ball to finish off NNU's shutout win.

"Tyler Marsh set a great energy tempo for us today," Musgraves said. "It's easy to play behind a guy throwing strikes, he just bangs the strike zone and everybody stays on their toes."

Marsh also had a big day at the plate, as he was 4-of-5 with an RBI in the opener for NNU, while Anthony Flatt had a pair of hits in each game and Morelli had two hits in the opener and was 1-for-3 with two RBIs in the nightcap.

The Crusaders now get two days to rest up before hosting St. Martin's in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday to open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. First pitch Friday is 4 p.m. and Saturday's games start at noon.

Having won 3-of-4 to start the week gives the Crusaders some positive momentum heading into league play.

"I think we're definitely taking steps forward," Musgraves said. "Sometimes it feels like we may be running uphill, but never-the-less, we are moving forward.

"We're finding out who can compete and we're finding out who gives the team good energy, and now we're going to put those guys out there and I do feel good about that," NNU's coach added.