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NAMPA, Idaho — After a near-miss in comeback mode, the Crusaders made sure the Saints didn't pull off a comeback of their own.

The Northwest Nazarene baseball team battled back only to come up one run short in a 6-5, doubleheader opening loss to visiting St. Martin's on Friday at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus.

The Crusaders then fended off the Saints comeback bid and held on for a 2-1 win as NNU split the teams' Great Northwest Athletic Conference twinbill.
 

"It's always nice to win, but you still look at things: How did we win? What can we do better?" NNU head coach Rocke Musgraves said after a pressure-packed strikeout by NNU reliever Nick Bland iced the nightcap victory.

"I think that still, with those pressurized at-bats, we've got to complete a little better," NNU's skipper added. "That doesn't mean try harder, if anything we've got to start playing a little more relaxed.

"We're going to learn to use our 27 outs a little more efficiently then we're doing," Musgraves said. "I think our guys are starting to learn you've got to use your outs to score runs."

Runs were hard to come by early for NNU (8-10 overall, 6-4 GNAC), which saw the Saints instead plated two in the top of the first inning of the opener, two more in the fourth inning and another in the sixth.

Down 5-0, NNU began its comeback as Jarod Gonzales provided one of those productive outs with an RBI groundout with the bases loaded to get the Crusaders on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Then, Andrew Helmstadter made it a very interesting game with one swing, rocketing a three-run home run over the left-field wall for a 5-4 ballgame after six innings.

It stayed there until the top of the eighth inning when a two-out balk call cost NNU a run as Micah McNicoll walked home with what proved to be the game-winning run.

A disheartening turn as NNU kept battling, getting a solo home run to right field by Billy King in the bottom of the ninth to close the difference to a single run, then a two-out single by Casey Sheehan, bringing the winning run to the plate.
 

But with the pressure on, Saints reliever Luke Hare came up with a big strikeout to close out the win, thwarting the Crusaders comeback charge.

The nightcap proved to be a near mirror image, in the Crusaders favor, as a Gonzales solo homer in the second gave NNU a 1-0 lead, then an RBI sacrifice fly by Tim Jones made it a 2-0 ballgame.

Just enough for Jaramy Jacobs (2-2), who struck out five in 6 2-3 innings on the hill for the win.

He'd need help to get the final out, though, as the Saints (7-11, 4-6) rallied for a run with two outs in the top of the seventh.
 
In stepped Bland who, with the bases loaded, got a game-saving strikeout to secure the win.

"Jacobs competed really well, was really efficient with his pitches," Musgraves said. "Then Nick coming in in that pressure situation, bases loaded, shutting the door; that says a lot about those guys.

"I thought we pitched really well today," NNU's coach added as Clevenger, Joe Siegel and Brady Baker combined for a strong first-game effort. "Ross Clevenger probably didn't have his best stuff, but he just competed, kept us in a ballgame. Then Joe came in and I thought did real well for us."

But the difference between a sweep and a split proved to be the lack of a few clutch base hits for NNU, which stranded eight runners on base in the opener.

"I thought we hit the ball real well, but we hit a lot of balls right at people," Musgraves said.

Sheehan led the way going 3-for-5 at the plate in the first game, while Casey Cornwell added two hits, and Brett Nielsen was 3-for-3 in the nightcap for NNU, which hosts St. Martin's in another doubleheader Saturday with first pitch at 1 p.m. at Elmore Vail Field.