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ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Tyler Marsh earned the win in relief and Sam Cook provided the game-winning RBI, snapping a 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly to help the Northwest Nazarene baseball team grab an 8-6 win at Central Washington on Saturday.

The Wildcats rallied to take the nightcap, 6-1, as the two teams split their four-game, Great Northwest Athletic Conference series over the weekend.

"We have a long way to go but we are becoming more of a team each series," NNU baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said.

Tied 3-3 in the top of the seventh, Cook's sacrifice fly to centerfield scored Ben Circeo for NNU (9-12 overall, 5-3 GNAC), which added a run on a wild pitch and another on a Tate Glasgow single to right-center in the inning.

Ryan Johnson added an RBI double in the eighth for the Crusaders, and he later scored on a fielding error, putting NNU on top 8-4.

The Wildcats (8-10, 3-5) chipped away with a run in each the eighth and ninth, closing to 8-6 down, and had runners at first and second with two outs when Andrew Groves came on to strike out Stephen McElroy and earn his second save of the season.

Marsh (2-1) earned the win, striking out two batters in 3 2-3 innings of relief of starting pitcher Noah Starr, who scattered four hits through five innings, but did not figure into the final decision.

"We did a good job not allowing any crooked numbers in the win," Musgraves said. "Starr, Marsh and Groves showed a lot of maturity with damage control."

Kyle Thomson, Glasgow and Andrew Helmstadter each had three hits in the win for NNU and Johnson added a 2-for-4 effort with a pair of RBIs.

In the nightcap, Central Washington hit three home runs to prevent the Crusaders from sweeping the day's doubleheader.

Cook had the lone RBI for NNU in the top of the second, doubling home Glasgow to trim the Wildcats lead down to 2-1 at the time. Cook and Glasgow each had a pair of hits in the nightcap.

"I am a bit disappointed that we didn't counterpunch more in the second game," Musgraves said. "We let some opportunities slip by without much of a fight."

The Crusaders, who have won 8 of the last 12 contests, will look to improve on that next weekend as they hit the road once again, playing at Western Oregon on Friday and Saturday in a battle for the early-season lead in the GNAC.