Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NAMPA, Idaho — The battle between the GNAC leaders came up a draw; a disappointment for the host Crusaders.

After sweeping Friday's doubleheader to grab first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball standings, Northwest Nazarene came up short against visiting Western Oregon in both contests on Saturday, falling 15-1 in the days opener, and 9-7 in 10 innings to finish off the teams' twinbill at Elmore Vail Field on the NNU campus.

"These types of games get you ready to compete in pressure situations, so going into the second half, if we can learn from our mistakes and spend every day getting better we'll finish up all right," NNU head coach Rocke Musgraves said.

"Hopefully we can begin enjoying playing in tight ball games. This should be what they look forward to."
 

Musgraves referred to the nightcap, a see-saw battled and great bounce-back effort by the Crusaders (14-16 overall, 12-8 GNAC), who quickly erased the memory of an opener where everything went wrong.

Down a pair of runs early in the nightcap, a two-out RBI single to center by Kyle Redford got the Crusaders going, then a solo home run to left off the bat of Spencer Pollock tied it 2-2 after three innings.

Western Oregon responded with a solo run in the fourth, but a bases loaded, two-out double into the right-center gap by Billy King chased home three runs in the NNU half of the inning, giving the Crusaders their first lead of the day, on top 5-3.

But the Wolves (12-8, 11-5) responded with two runs in the top of the fifth, forcing the Crusaders to try and land another winning blow.

NNU responded with an RBI single by Jarod Gonzales and an RBI sacrifice fly by Andrew Helmstadter for a 7-5 edge after five innings.

But Western Oregon got those two back in the top of the sixth, and the game stayed knotted up a 7-7 past the regulation seven innings, and on and on until a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the 10^th for the Wolves put them on top for good.

NNU tried to rally one more time, but came up empty in the bottom of the 10^th as Western Oregon swept the day's doubleheader and regained the GNAC lead.

"I thought we did a good job competing in game two and flushing game one," Musgraves said.

A good job flushing the opener as WOU scored 11 runs in the top of the second inning and cruised to the win.

The lone bright spot in the day's first game was a solo home run by Helmstadter for NNU, which continues a 12-game homestand next weekend hosting Montana State Billings in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday at Elmore Vail Field.