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BILLINGS, Mont. – Success and heartbreak came to the Crusaders on a minor-league baseball diamond in central Montana.

Northwest Nazarene's baseball team battled its way into the postseason for the first time since 1992 and earned itself a shot at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title.

That proved to be the success for the Crusaders.

Two swings at that the title, actually, playing a doubleheader against 13-time GNAC champion Western Oregon.

The heartbreak came as NNU battled hard only to come up just short, falling 7-2 to the Wolves in Friday's GNAC title opener, then stranding the tying run at second base in a winner-take-all, 4-3 setback against Western Oregon at Dehler Park in Billings, Mont.

"I'm proud of our older guys for answering the bell and finishing their careers hard, and I'm also very pleased that we had the opportunity to get a lot of younger guys some very important innings in postseason baseball," said NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves, whose team finished the year 29-28 overall and as runner-up GNAC champs.

The heartbreaking end to the Crusaders drive to the title came after Tyler Davis reach on a one-out hit by pitch and Andrew Helmstadter added a single to right, putting two on in the top of the ninth inning in Friday's final game.
 

But both Crusader base-runners – the tying and game-winning runs - were left aboard.

That spoiled a strong comeback effort by NNU, which saw a two-run homer by Matt Taylor and another two-run shot by Garrett Harpole put the Crusaders in a 4-0 hole after two innings.

Helmstadter cut the lead in half with one swing, a two-run shot to left in the top of the third inning, and NNU closed to within a run on a Jesse Hilyard sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth inning.

But try as they might, NNU couldn't plate the tying run.

Still, a stellar effort by the Crusaders who got a great game on the hill by senior pitcher Tyler Marsh in the second game. Marsh struck out three in four shutout innings of relief.

Senior Jake Reppert was equally outstanding, throwing seven tough innings at the Wolves in the opener, striking out eight and allowing just three runs.

But Darrien Moran allowed just one run on two hits in eight innings, leading Western Oregon to a win in the opener. Moran was named the tournament MVP for his efforts.

And in the nightcap, three WOU pitchers teamed up to fend off the Crusaders comeback efforts.

"One of the best compliments a baseball player can get is to be known as a clutch player, and I think we began to develop some of those guys over the course of the season," said Musgraves, who got clutch pitching efforts all weekend in the tournament from his NNU pitching staff.

And NNU also saw some big base hits and great defensive plays, as well, as Crusaders turned into a title contender as the year went along – and the weekend.

"The game of baseball tells you a lot about a person," Musgraves said. "Halfway through the year I think we had a lot of guys questioning their baseball ability. But over the course of some tough games we seemed to start developing a toughness and callousness the good baseball players need because of the very nature of the game."

Some of those clutch performances came from nine NNU seniors who played their final collegiate games, pitchers Reppert and Marsh along with Colben McGuire, Andrew Groves and Jake Ferdinand, along with position players Tate Glasgow, Kaleb DeHaas, Kyle Thomson and Ben Circeo.