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WAIPAHU, Hawaii – Big Jake Reppert stepped up with exactly the performance the Crusaders needed.

The 6-foot-5 lefty dominated on the hill, striking out five and scattering five hits, shutting out Hawaii Pacific and leading Northwest Nazarene to a 6-0 victory over the Sharks at Hans L'Orange Park in nonconference baseball Friday night.

"Jake Reppert - we needed somebody to climb on their back tonight and we climbed on Jake's tonight and he did a heckuva job," NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said.

The win was the first of Reppert's career in a Crusader uniform, and also the first in the five-game series between the two teams, which continues Saturday with a doubleheader at 5 p.m. (MT).

NNU (3-4 overall) dropped the series opener, 5-1, Thursday night and fell 15-7 in the first game of Friday's twinbill before Reppert stepped on the hill and changed the momentum of the weekend for the Crusaders.

And he did it without his best stuff as the NNU lefty admits that not much was working for him on the mound: "mostly just fastballs located well inside, in on the hands a little bit."

"But other than that there wasn't really anything else working so kinda just had to gut it out."

That was enough for the victory, as Reppert set the tone on the hill and his teammates helped him out with solid defense and timely offense.

The first big hit of which came in the top of the second with two outs as Kaleb DeHaas ripped an RBI double down the left-field line to drive home Nick Strange from first with what proved to be the game-winner.

Reppert, with the help of error-free defense, made that solo run hold up into the fifth when the Crusader offense went to work icing the victory.
Kyle Thomson singled to stretch his season-opening hit streak to seven straight games then scored on a two-out RBI double by Andrew Helmstadter.

Helmstadter later scored on an RBI triple by Jesse Hilyard for a comfortable 3-0 lead.

That advantage grew to a commanding 6-0 score as Thomson and Tyler Davis each drove in a run in the sixth and the Crusaders added another on an error.

A win that allows the Crusaders to continue to grow on a positive note, as Coach Musgraves was still searching for more from his team after the victory.

"You're always happy to win but I think too many times a win glosses over mistakes," NNU's skipper said. "I still think we're failing in some very important areas right now. We have some people who still continue to, when the pressure is on, put too much pressure on themselves and are not getting the job done.

"In order for this program to turn the corner we're going to have to grow up quite a bit from where we are right now."

The problems were more evident in the opener for the Crusaders, who fought back valiantly twice, but simply couldn't slow down the Sharks (2-1).

After seeing HPU plate five runs in the bottom of the third, NNU responded with a four-run rally in the fourth as Thomson had an RBI double and Davis belted an RBI triple in the comeback.

Hawaii Pacific pushed the lead out to 11-4 before the Crusaders once again rallied with three runs in the top of the eighth, a charge highlighted by a two-run Hilyard double, but Hawaii Pacific iced the win with a four-run answer in the bottom half of the inning.