Box Score 1 | Box Score 2


NAMPA, Idaho — The Crusaders would not be denied, much to the delight of head coach Rocke Musgraves.

The Northwest Nazarene baseball team battled all game long in the opener and finally scored a walk-off, 5-4 win on Tucker Campbell's two-out, seeing-eye single to snap Western Oregon's 14-game win streak.

The host Crusaders then did the unthinkable, erasing an eight-run deficit against the league's top pitcher to complete a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep, rallying to beat the Wolves, 14-10, in the nightcap Friday at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus.
 

"Just another Friday night in the GNAC," Musgraves said. "Hats off to my guys — you just had a sense we could do it, even when it was 8-0 — because we were swinging the bats well and seeing the ball well."

The sweep puts the two teams in a virtual tie for first place in the GNAC and gives NNU the win in the season series between the two teams as the Crusaders have taken 5-of-6 from WOU.

The teams conclude the season series Saturday with another doubleheader at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

Saturday's doubleheader will be a special day at the ballpark as it is Autism Awareness Day, and there will be a special pre-game ceremony starting at 12:30 p.m. Part of the proceeds from the gate also will go to A Social Place Inc., benefitting those with Autism and helping increase awareness about the disorder.

In Friday's opener, Jaramy Jacobs dueled with Wolves starter Garrett Alvarez as the teams traded leads.

A Brett Nielsen RBI fielder's choice tied it 1-1 in the first inning, and a two-run Andrew Helmstadter double put the Crusaders (23-15 overall, 18-10 GNAC) up 3-2 after four frames.

The Wolves (24-15, 19-10) tied it in the fifth, and after a RBI double by Campbell put NNU on top 4-3 after seven innings, the Wolves tied it again in the top of the eighth.

Knotted at 4-4 headed to the bottom of the ninth, Nielsen ignited the final rally with a one-out double to left before pinch-runner Colton McCluskey took over, hustling to third on a Brady Baker groundout to first.

Then, with two outs and the winner 90 feet away, Campbell came through in the clutch, rolling a single between third and short, a ball Wolves shortstop Erik Long dove and gloved, but had no chance to throw anywhere as McCluskey hustled home with the game winner and Campbell crossed first base safely, setting off a wild Crusader celebration on the infield.

"I think today was a day about rebounds for the Crusaders," Musgraves said of the first win, and the second-game comeback, as well. "It seemed like whenever something bad happened we rebounded right away."
 

After seeing NNU celebrate the walk-off victory, though, it was the Wolves who rebounded, plating eight runs in the top of the first inning of the nightcap before the Crusaders even got an out.

That made for a daunting comeback task, especially against WOU's unbeaten starter Brady Miller (8-1), who came in leading the league with a 1.23 ERA.

But on the second pitch out of Miller's hand, Ryan Johnson crushed a solo home run to center, a one-run swing that ignited the Crusaders comeback spirit.

"I think that just showed the team against a great pitcher like that, 'hey, we can square him up," Musgraves said of Johnson's homer, the start of a 5-for-5 game at the plate for NNU's right-fielder, who went 7-for-9 in the twinbill.

Inspired by Johnson's homer, the Crusaders tacked on five more in the frame, and suddenly trailed it just 8-6.

From there, NNU just kept coming as a Johnson RBI single in the third helped close the gap to 9-8, then Josh Hatfield blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth, putting the Crusaders on top for good, up 12-9.

Tyler Davis added an RBI single in the fifth and Johnson tacked on an RBI double in the sixth.

That proved to be plenty of offense for Blake Mitchell (2-2), who came out of the pen and gave NNU a chance for the comeback. Mitchell earned the win striking out five and giving up just two runs on three hits in 5 2-3 innings relief.