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NAMPA, Idaho – The Crusaders needed someone to step up big to keep Friday from being a heartbreaker.

In stepped big lefty Jake Reppert.

The 6-foot-5 senior once again dominated on the hill for Northwest Nazarene, striking out nine Saint Martin's batters for his second complete-game shutout of the young season.
 

Reppert's effort led the way in a 7-0 win over the Saints as NNU earned a split in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus, bouncing back strong after falling 14-12 in a slugfest to start the day.

"Great job by him," NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said. "We needed someone to pick us up because we kind of threw one away that first game."

It was the third shutout overall this year for Reppert (4-0), who pitched eight innings of shutout ball before turning the game over to reliever Nick Strange last Saturday in a 4-0 victory at Concordia.

In all, the Crusader lefty has gone 17 straight innings without allowing a run and has only allowed three runs in five outings all season.

It looked like that trend might change in the top of the first as the Saints (8-12, 2-4 GNAC) loaded the bases with one out.

But a strikeout and a fly ball to right silenced the threat and set the tone for the game, as the Saints only came within 90 feet of scoring once more all night when Carl Svanevik advance to third with two outs in the top of the sixth, but was stranded there.

"Reppert did a great job of attacking hitters," Musgraves said, "and even thought he had a pretty good cutter going and he could throw his change-up, his ability to get in on guys - that's the whole key at this level is the ability to pitch in."

With Reppert setting the tone on the hill, NNU's offense continued to click, much as it did all day.
 

An RBI double by Tyler Davis in the first provided what proved to be the game winner, but the Crusaders (11-8, 1-1) made it easier on their pitcher as Andrew Helmstadter doubled in a run in the third then scored on a Matt Lightfoot single.

Kyle Thomson added an RBI single in the fourth before Davis cracked another double that plated Thomson and Strange, making it 6-0, and NNU added a final run in the fifth when Kaleb DeHaas scored on an error.

That after NNU plated 12 runs on 16 hits in the opener, but couldn't overcome the offense of the Saints, who hit four home runs and used a six-run rally in the top of the eighth to steal the win.

"We did a good job of hitting, but hitting's not going to show up every night so you need that pitching and defense," Musgraves said.

And NNU's pitching couldn't shut down the Saints as the Crusaders held leads of 6-5 and 12-8 in the contest.

DeHaas led NNU's attack in the opener, going 4-for-5, while Lightfoot had three hits and Strange and Josh Hatfield each had two base knocks. Hatfield hit safely in both contests, stretching his hitting streak to 12 straight games.

The two teams return to the field again Saturday for another GNAC doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.