Baseball Battles Back to Earn Split at Northwest Nazarene

Game One

Game Two

NAMPA, Idaho – Continuing the trend of dropping the opening game of a doubleheader and coming back for the nightcap victory, the Montana State Billings baseball team earned a split at Northwest Nazarene Friday evening.  The host Crusaders won the opener 13-3 and MSUB won the second game 5-4 in extra innings.  With the split, the Yellowjackets enter Saturday’s doubleheader with a 6-13 record overall and a 5-5 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  NNU stands at 11-12 on the year and 5-5 in conference play.

“We are a tale of two teams,” head coach Chris Brown said.  “In the first game, Gwaltney (Jesse) pitched pretty well and we didn’t execute and we weren’t ready to play.  We had a little bit of life in the ninth with a drag bunt and a home run from Dukart (Brian).”

Northwest Nazarene starting pitcher, Jesse Gwaltney took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of the opener as the Crusaders had a comfortable 13-1 lead.  The Yellowjackets scored their first run in the seventh courtesy of a walk, wild pitch, hit batsman and Matt Schoonover hit into a double play scoring the run with no hits.

In the ninth, lead-off hitter, Chris Stine, put down a drag bunt breaking-up the no-hitter followed by a two run home run from GNAC Player of the Week Brian Dukart for the two runs in the inning.

The first game saw the Crusaders jump out to a 4-0 lead through the first three innings off Yellowjacket starter Kody Kennedy (2-1).  Kennedy went 5.2 innings allowing six hits, eight earned runs, four walks and three strikeouts.  Cody Clark pitched 1.1 innings in relief allowing two hits, four runs – one earned three walks and one strikeout.  Trey Gregg pitched the final frame allowing two hits, one earned run.

The Jackets committed four errors in the game which led to three unearned runs.  NNU had 10 hits to the Jackets’ three.  Gwaltney went eight innings, allowing two hits, three earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts as he had complete command of the Yellowjacket hitters.

In the second game, the Yellowjackets jumped out to an early 3-0 lead through the first two and a half innings.  Jeff Ridgeway began the game with a triple, followed by a Dukart RBI single for a 1-0 lead.  In the second inning Blake Nelson belted his first home run of his MSUB career for a 2-0 lead and in the third Dukart scored off a Schoonover single and a Crusader miscue led to the run.

“We came out and got some runs in the first few innings and we let them back in the game in the fourth with an error,” Brown added.  “Blake Nelson had a good game with two home runs and Chris Round’s hit in the eighth was great as we executed just enough to get the win.”

The Crusaders got on the board in the third with a sacrifice fly RBI from Jon Keller for a 3-1 deficit.  NNU evened the game in the fourth helped out by a throwing error coupled with a RBI single and another sacrifice fly for a 3-3 score.

MSUB regained the lead in the fifth as Nelson homered for the second time in the game for a 4-3 score.  The Jackets surrendered the tying run in the bottom of the seventh on a RBI double by Joel Oliver with two outs.

In the eighth, Chris Round got things started with a double to center, followed by a wild pitch advancing pinch runner Ryan Dennehy to third.  Jonathon Crews hit a sacrifice fly to right scoring Dennehy for the eventual game-winning run.

Brian Hutchings came in and pitched the extra frame for the Yellowjackets in relief of Kyle Gieselman.  Things didn’t go as smoothly as Hutchings would have hoped as the Crusaders got the possible game-winning run on base, but was able to get out of the jam on a fielder’s choice and a fly out to end the game.

In the nightcap, MSUB had five runs on 12 hits with two errors, while NNU had four runs 10 hits and two errors. Gieselman (1-0) earned the victory in relief of Jacob Vulk who went five innings, allowing six hits, three runs –one earned, five walks and four strikeouts.  Hutchings picked up his first save of the year.

Offensively, the Jackets were led by Blake Nelson who went 2 of 4 with two RBI and two runs scored in a pair of solo home runs.  Dukart went 3 for 5 with a run scored and a RBI as he was 4 of 8 with three RBI and three runs scored for the doubleheader. 

The two teams complete the four-game set tomorrow at 12 p.m.  MSUB returns home for its 2010 home opener a week from Friday at 3 p.m. versus Central Washington at Dehler Park to open a four-game series.