Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Another tough day on the diamond didn't dishearten the Crusaders, but it did leave them with work to do.

The Northwest Nazarene baseball team played hard, but for the second straight day on the road NNU couldn't get a break, falling 8-2 and 11-7 to host Central Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday.

"Baseball is so different than other sports," NNU head baseball coach Rocke Musgraves said. "On almost every team I've been involved with you will go through a period of time where the game absolutely hates you: You make a good pitch and the opponent bloops a single in with the bases loaded, while your hitters can buy a break. During that same time every call seems to go against you.

"Good teams grind through it and come out the other end OK. We are going through that time right now — if we don't let it beat us and just weather the storm, balls will start falling and we'll get some hard-hit balls hit right at us."

But Saturday, much like Friday when the Wildcats won 13-6 and 6-5, the Crusaders (24-20 overall, 19-15 GNAC) couldn't catch a break.

In the opener, NNU lead 1-0 halfway through the game before the Wildcats erupted with an eight-run rally that won the game.

NNU grab the 1-0 lead on a Spencer Pollock RBI single in the top of the fourth inning, and Tyler Davis answered CWU's rally with a solo homer, but that was all the Crusader offense could muster.

The nightcap turned out to be another heartbreaker for the Crusaders who took a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Johnson solo homer to lead off the ballgame.

CWU (26-20, 22-14) answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but a Brett Nielsen two-run single gave NNU a 3-1 advantage in the third inning.

The Wildcats answered once again, so the Crusaders got a Tim Jones solo homer and scored on a wild pitch, forging a 5-3 lead.

CWU got a run back in the bottom of the fourth inning, then made a decisive charge with three in the fifth and four more in the sixth for a commanding 11-5 lead.

Andrew Helmstadter and Pollock each had an RBI in the top of the seventh inning before NNU's comeback came up short.

"It was a perfect storm for Central Washington this weekend — Central Washington and baseball mentally beat us up — but iron sharpens iron and we learned a lot," said Musgraves whose team closes the regular season hosting Concordia in doubleheaders on Thursday and Friday. First pitch on Thursday is at 3 p.m., and at noon on Friday.

Big games which could earn the Crusaders their first GNAC title, could secure a playoff berth, or could leave NNU just outside the postseason picture.

"I look forward to going to war this coming weekend," Musgraves said.

Helmstadter led NNU's offense with a pair of hits in each game, while Johnson and Nielsen had two hits each in the nightcap.