Box Score

CALDWELL, Idaho — The Crusaders evened the score with their long-time rival The College of Idaho, and at the same time built some momentum for a crucial weekend series.

Tucker Campbell's RBI single in the top of the ninth inning proved to be the game winner for the Northwest Nazarene baseball team, which held on in the bottom of the ninth to top the Coyotes, 3-2, in nonconference action at Wolfe Field in Caldwell.

"Our pitchers did a good job of establishing the fastball today and earning the right to throw their breaking ball," NNU head baseball coach Rock Musgraves said as NNU used seven pitcher's in the win. "I felt like we attacked the strike zone instead of hoping we were going to throw a strike.

"Our hitters still have to do a better job of using our outs to score runs, but we had a couple clutch base hits which I was very pleased with."

NNU got things rolling in the top of the first against the Yotes as Andrew Helmstadter doubled and scored on a two-out RBI single by Tyler Davis.

The score remained 1-0 until the eighth inning when Helmstatder — who was 3-for-4 and just a home run shy of hitting for the cycle — led off with his Crusader single-season record sixth triple of the year.

Helmstadter then scored on a groundout off the bat of Jesse Hilyard for a 2-0 Crusader lead.

Campbell then provided the game winner, singling home Nick Strange who led off the ninth inning with a walk and took second on a Ben Circeo sacrifice bunt.

Just enough offense for the bevy of NNU arms as Jake Ferdinand (1-1) earned the win and Strange picked up the save (1).

The mid-week win for NNU (15-15) evens the two team's season series at a victory apiece as The C of I (20-12) notched a 14-10 win in Nampa in February. The two teams conclude their head-to-head season series when the Coyotes visiting Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus on April 14.

While the victory evened the rivalry series, it more importantly gave the Crusaders some momentum heading into back-to-back doubleheaders at home against Great Northwest Athletic Conference front-runner Western Oregon.

First pitch against the Wolves on Friday is at 3 p.m. at Elmore Vail Field. Saturday is "Cancer Awareness Day" at the ballpark with ceremonies beginning at noon and first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. that day.