Box Score 1 | Box Score 2



NAMPA, Idaho – One win. One inspired near miss.

The Crusaders enjoyed a successful start to the 2015 baseball season Friday at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus, topping British Columbia, 7-5, and coming within a play at the plate of knocking off in-state rival Lewis-Clark State in the Treasure Valley Icebreaker tournament.

"It was a good opening day," said NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves, whose team nearly pulled off the sweep but saw the tying run tagged out at home to end the ballgame in a 5-4 loss to LCSC. "We were able to kind of get our feet wet, some young guys got to play today and find out what college baseball is all about, and so definitely a positive day."
 

It couldn't get more positive than the opening win as NNU (1-1 overall) took a commanding 7-1 lead on the Thunderbirds (8-1) as one of those young guys, freshman Jesse Hilyard, had a two-run single in the bottom of the third to give the Crusaders a 3-1 lead.

The advantage grew to 5-1 on a two-run Tucker Campbell triple in the fourth inning, and to 7-1 as returners Kaleb DeHaas and Kyle Thomson each plated a run in the sixth.

"They came out swinging well," Musgraves said of NNU's offense.

Plenty of offense for Colton Loomis (1-0) who earned the win in his NNU debut on the hill. The junior transfer from Community Colleges of Spokane struck out four and gave up just one earned run in 6 2-3 innings on the hill.

From there, the Crusaders held on as the T-Birds plated two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings before Andrew Groves closed out the win for his first save of the season.

Forty-five minutes later the Crusaders swung back into action for their second game of the day against a Top 25-ranked NAIA foe, battling LCSC (1-1), led by the stellar pitching of lefty Jake Reppert.

"I thought Reppert did a great job overcoming a couple breaks behind him where we didn't make plays," Musgraves said. "He upped his game and shifted into a higher gear, so I'm proud of him."
 

Reppert gave up two runs in six innings work to the power-house Warriors – who have won the NAIA World Series 16 times – striking out six and scattering four hits.

That allowed NNU to grab a 3-2 lead with a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth as a three-base throwing error on a DeHaas sacrifice bunt led to a pair of runs, then a Thomson RBI double capped the rally.

LCSC tied it in the seventh and took a 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth, but NNU made a determined comeback aided by a pair of Warrior errors.

Campbell drove in a run, closing the gap to 5-4, then with two outs NNU loaded the bases and nearly evened the score on a wild pitch, only to see the game end when the potential tying run was tagged out at the plate.

A disappointing end, but one showing the Crusaders determination to win.

"There was no quit," Musgraves said, adding, "and what I was most pleased about is their late mistakes were aggressive mistakes, and we can live with those."

Tyler Davis, Thomson and Josh Hatfield each finished opening day with three hits and two-game hit streaks for the Crusaders, who are back in action for two more contests today at Elmore Vail Field as NNU hosts Concordia at noon and The College of Idaho at 3:30 p.m.