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ELLENSBURG, Wash. – "It was a tale of two teams," Northwest Nazarene baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said.

A tale that ended happily for the Crusaders, who rallied to pound out a 9-3 win over Central Washington in the nightcap of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon.

The opener was far less happy for NNU (8-11 overall, 4-2 GNAC) as Wildcats pitcher Brandon Williams dominated, striking out 15 batters in CWU's 6-1 victory.

"We've got to start believing in ourselves and each other," Musgraves said.

That belief came out in the Crusaders in the nightcap, as Ryan Johnson's RBI double in the top of the third inning tied the game at 1-1, then Sam Cook crushed his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field, putting NNU in front 3-1.

Aaron Vaughn (4-1) struck out seven to earn the complete-game, seven-inning win, and he got plenty of help from his teammates who erupted for five runs in the top of the fifth, icing the victory.

Tate Glasgow singled in a run in the fifth-inning rally for NNU, Kaleb DeHaas knocked in two more and Josh Hatfield and Kyle Thomson each added an RBI double in the surge for an 8-3 lead.

NNU tacked on a final run in the top of the seventh when Glasgow scored on an error.

Johnson, DeHaas and Thomson each had a pair of hits in the win for the Crusaders.

Hits were few and far between in the opener, though, after an RBI single by Cook put the Crusaders in front 1-0 in the top of the first.

The Wildcats (6-8, 2-4) tied the game in the bottom of the first, plated two in the second, another in the sixth and two more in the eighth for the victory.

A win powered by the pitching of Williams (3-1) who fanned 15 batters and scattered six hits in eight innings before turning the game over to Cory Welch, who struck out the side in the ninth to finish off the win.

The same teams meet up again Saturday in another doubleheader in Ellensburg, Wash., with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. (MT).