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April 12, 2008 Nampa, ID – Saint Martin’s offense was there but their pitching just couldn’t hold up as they fell to Northwest Nazarene University 10-7 and 8-7 Friday, then split Saturday losing game one 16-5 and taking game two 14-10 at Vail Field. The Crusaders overcame a 6-0 deficit to take game one then did it again in game two to earn the victory in extra innings. The Saints put up six in the top of the first. Andy Cole, Brandon Kuykendall, Craig Yuhas and Tom Barlow each picked up an RBI in the inning. Michael McIver, in his first collegiate at bat, capped off the inning with a two run homer to left field. Northwest Nazarene would battle their way back into the game with one run in the third, two in the fourth and tied it with three in the fifth. With the score tied 7-7 in the seventh the Crusaders tacked on three more runs to take the lead for good. Cole, Kuykendall, and Barlow had two hits each for the Saints, Kuykendall homered in the seventh. In the nightcap, SMU scored five runs in the fifth on just two hits and took advantage of three walks and three hit batters to go ahead 6-4. But the Crusaders scored two in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings. Each team score one in the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and third the Saints intentionally walked Mitch Kochis to load the bases. Ryan Bailey then drew the walk to force in the winning run. Carlo Ramirez led the Saints with two hits and drove in one run. Pat Capone was tagged with the loss. The third game of the series was all Crusaders as they drove in 16 runs on 16 hits. Barlow, Yuhas, Tanner Gronowski, and Luke Abbott had two hits each for the Saints. The Saints came out swinging in game four, plating 10 runs in the first inning. Eight of the Saints nine hitters reached base at least once in the inning. They would tack on one more run each in the second, third, sixth, and seventh innings. NNU was able to get on the board but couldn’t catch the Saints. Nate Baker led the way with four hits and two runs scored. Barlow and Kuykendall had three apiece, with Kuykendall driving in three and scoring three. Kuykendall and Shane Schoeneberg, who scored four runs, hit homeruns in the game. Andrew Neisinger picked up the win while Pat Capone earned his first save of the year. The Saints will travel to Billings next weekend to take on the Yellowjackets.
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