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LACEY, Wash. – "I think good teams find ways to win, even when not playing well."

Head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves' Crusaders are becoming that kind of good team as Northwest Nazarene battled all day and came out on top in the end, sweeping a Great Northwest Athletic Conference twinbill from host Saint Martin's, 7-2 and 5-4 on Monday, and competing the four-game weekend sweep of the Saints.

"It wasn't pretty but we showed some grit in the Saint Martin's series," said Musgraves whose team won 4-3 in 10 innings on Saturday and 9-1 to start the weekend sweep before taking off Sunday to celebrate Easter.

"We are really trying to stick with the process instead of being so focused on results," Musgraves added. "Our emotional and physical process has to be our priority. So many times we define winning as heaven and losing as hell. We are trying to stay focused on what we can control instead of getting caught up in the emotional roller-coaster associated with winning and losing."
 

So back at the ballpark Monday, NNU (22-18, 11-9 GNAC) tried to maintain that mental focus as if Saturday's games had never even happened.

They did pretty good job as one big swing from Jesse Hilyard, who earlier in the day was named the GNAC Player of the Week, set the tone for the day.

Hilyard blasted a one-out grand slam over the left-field fence for what proved to be the game-winner in top of the first inning.

But it wouldn't be that easy.

The Saints (13-21, 7-13) got a run in the third and another in the fourth, cutting the margin in half before NNU broke the game open with a three-run rally in the top of the seventh.

Back-to-back-to-back RBI base hits with two outs from Hilyard, Tate Glasgow and Johnathon Hallman provided all the runs, as the Crusaders came up with clutch hits to provide some much needed insurance.

Insurance that secured the win for starter Blake Mitchell (5-3), who struck out five in seven innings work on the hill.

He turned it over to a Crusader bullpen that got two shutout innings from Noah Starr to close it out.

"I thought our pitching was solid, but we need to be much more efficient and not throw so many wasted pitches," Musgraves said. "The guys are working hard at finishing off hitters and innings."
 

And with three wins already in the bag, NNU looked to finish off the sweep, handing the ball to Ross Clevenger to start the fourth game of the series.

One fly ball into the sun proved costly early as it sparked a two-out rally by the Saints, who grabbed a first-inning lead on a three-run Travis Shaw homer.

But the Crusaders showed their grit, and mental fortitude, unfazed by the early deficit, getting a run in the third on a Josh Hatfield sacrifice fly, then tying the game with a three-run rally in the fifth that saw Hatfield single home two before Tucker Campbell hustled home on a wild pitch, making it a 4-4 ballgame.

"Our hitters are working at being able to change their game-plan midstream instead of taking so long to make adjustments," Musgraves said, as the NNU hitters rallied waiting on curveballs from Saints pitchers, who prior to the fifth-inning comeback in the nightcap had struck out 20 Crusader batters on the day.

Tied up, NNU won it in the sixth as Glasgow doubled and scored on a throwing error following a Ben Circeo sacrifice bunt.

That one run cushion held up thanks to reliever Colton Loomis (5-1) who worked the final three frames in relief to earn his second win out of the bullpen on the weekend.

The Saints managed just a pair of infield base hits off Loomis in his three shutout innings of work, never seriously threatening to tie the game after NNU battled its way in front.

Hatfield led NNU's offense in the nightcap, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while Hilyard was 3-for-4 with five RBIs in Monday's first game and Tim Jones had a pair of hits as well in the opener for the Crusaders, who get the week off before hosting The College of Idaho on April 14 at 6:30 p.m.

"All in all we are a work in progress," said Musgraves who added, "so far the work has been a lot of fun."