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NAMPA, Idaho – A freshman stole the show on "Senior Day," much to the delight of his upper-class teammates.

Ross Clevenger nearly threw the fifth no-hitter in Northwest Nazarene baseball history, but instead partnering with senior Andrew Groves on a 1-hit shutout Saturday to complete a doubleheader sweep in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action of Central Washington in the final game of the regular season at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus.

"I'm proud of him because he won the ballgame," NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said of Clevenger's effort in a 4-0 victory over the Wildcats, which came on the heels of a 10-7 NNU victory to start the day.
 

"The whole dugout and coaching staff knew it was more important that we win a game than get a no-hitter, but it's great to have a freshman that steps up like that when we needed him."

Clevenger (2-0) struck out eight and didn't allow a hit until the top of the seventh inning when Jonathon Dailey's one-out single back up the middle snapped the no-no bid.

With the no-hitter gone, the Crusaders called on Groves – one of nine seniors honored on the day – and he did just that, getting a pop-up to first and a strikeout to finish off the shutout.

Andrew Helmstadter provided the game-winning RBI with a fielder's choice, driving in Josh Hatfield who singled to lead off the bottom of the first inning.

Hatfield added a solo homer – his second of the day – in the third inning and Tucker Campbell provided two big insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth with a bases loaded single into the left-center gap.

That capped a happy "Senior Day" as NNU (25-20, 13-11 GNAC) honored seniors Groves, Kyle Thomson, Tyler Marsh, Kaleb DeHaas, Ben Circeo, Tate Glasgow, Colben McGuire, Jake Reppert and Jake Ferdinand between games.

A happy ceremony thanks to an offense explosion from the Crusader hitters who forged an 8-0 lead early in the day's opener.
 

Hatfield's first homer of the day ignited the charge in the bottom of the first inning, Nick Strange added an RBI single in the second, and Jesse Hilyard hit a solo homer in the third before a Campbell RBI double made it 4-0.

Tyler Davis pushed the lead to 6-0 with a two-run shot to left in the bottom of the fourth inning before a DeHaas RBI double followed by a Campbell RBI base knock made it 8-0.

The Wildcats (20-23, 11-17) made it interesting, plating six runs in the top of the fifth, but Colton Loomis (6-1) came on to close down the rally and finish off the win for NNU, striking out five in 4 2-3 innings of relief.

"The guys put good swings on it and Colton Loomis came in and got some real big outs for us," Musgraves said.

A couple of those good swings derailed any momentum Central Washington gained with its rally, as an Andrew Helmstadter RBI groundout followed by a Glasgow base hit plated two runs to give NNU a 10-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.

It stayed there until a solo run by the Wildcats in the ninth, as the Crusaders completed a crucial sweep. NNU now hits the road for two final GNAC series starting with a battle for first place at Montana State Billings next Friday and Saturday.

"We made a commitment after this game, we talked about this week that we're not going to use things as excuses, we want to be the best students in the world and we're also going to put in extra work in the cages and the bullpens, and we made the commitment to get better," Musgraves said as NNU looks ahead to the four-game series against the league-leading Yellowjackets.

A big series that might determine the GNAC regular-season title as MSU Billings currently holds a two-game edge on Western Oregon and a three-game lead on the Crusaders.

Coach Musgraves knows his team is ready for the challenge of the pennant race which lies ahead.

"This team seems to really want to work for each other so they'll get it done," he said.