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NAMPA, Idaho – Tyler Davis continued to crush the ball for the Crusaders.

Davis hit his third home run of the weekend for Northwest Nazarene, providing the difference in a 3-1 comeback win over Great Northwest Athletic Conference front-runner Western Oregon.

NNU's second baseman then came through with a clutch, tie-breaking RBI single in the Crusaders' final at-bat in a 10-6 win as NNU swept a doubleheader from the Wolves at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus on Saturday.

Davis' offensive heroics were just a couple of the highlights from the weekend for NNU, which took 3-of-4 from Western Oregon thanks to great pitching and staunch defense, as well.
 

"I thought our pitching, defense and offense were very focused towards the team concept this weekend," NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said.

Saturday's two wins certainly were team victories, too, as starting pitcher Blake Mitchell (4-3) carried the load early on in the opener, pitching seven stellar innings and giving up just one run in a duel with Western Oregon starter Garrett Alvarez.

Mitchell's teammates helped him out defensively throughout, then came through at the plate in the bottom of the sixth with Western Oregon on top 1-0.

Josh Hatfield – who went 4-for-6 on the day - led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to center before Davis – 4-for-8 with 3 RBIs on the day - stepped into the batter's box, and against a mild breeze blowing in, belted a two-run homer to left-center that gave NNU (18-16, 7-9 GNAC) the lead for good.

But the Crusaders weren't done as Kaleb DeHaas singled and came around to score on a two-out base hit by Tate Glasgow for a 3-1 advantage.

NNU then turned it over to Colton Loomis and Justin Pilgrim who each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to close out the win, with Pilgrim earning his first save of the season.

That set the team-attitude tone for the NNU, which found itself down 2-0 to the Wolves (14-16, 10-5) after a half inning in the nightcap.

Undaunted, Ross Clevenger threw three straight shutout innings at the Wolves in his first collegiate start and got help again for his Crusader offense as Nick Strange had an RBI groundout in the second, then Tim Jones singled and scored on a wild pitch in the third, tying it 2-2.
 

Jones' run was just the first of an offensively flurry in the frame, though, as Tucker Campbell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, breaking the tie, then a pair of runs hustled home on a fielding error.

A Jesse Hilyard RBI triple pushed the Crusader advantage to 6-2 in the fifth inning before the lone unlucky break of the day struck NNU.

A walk and a pair of seeing-eye singles set the stage for Garret Harpole who with no one out tied the game with one swing, belting a grand slam down the left-field line.

Loomis (3-1), on in relief for the third time during the weekend series, buckled down and shut down the Wolves the rest of the way from there, earning the win.

That allowed NNU to answer in the bottom of the sixth, and with one out and two runners aboard Davis again provided a big blow, this one a hard-hit single to right.

The base hit drove home one run and when the ball bounced past WOU's right fielder, a second NNU run hustled home, making it 8-6 and opening the floodgates on a four-run rally that helped ice the sweep.

An RBI double by Andrew Helmstadter followed by a run-scoring Campbell single gave NNU its final margin of victory, up 10-6.

"Our guys showed a lot of resolve today, especially when Harpole hit the grand slam," Musgraves said. "I really like how we fought back.

"It was a good weekend for the Crusaders," NNU's skipper added. "We played well against a very, very tough Western Oregon club."

The sweep gives NNU momentum heading into the second half of the GNAC race, but before the Crusaders continue with league play they'll host two nonconference contests against long-time NAIA powerhouse Lewis-Clark State on Tuesday and Wednesday. First pitch both nights is at 6 p.m.