March 27, 2004
NAMPA, Idaho - The Northwest Nazarene Crusaders erased a four run UVSC lead in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Wolverines 7-6 in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday. In game two NNU's Jack Jensen pitched a two-hit shutout to defeat UVSC 10-0.
The Wolverines took a 6-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning on a RBI double by
Trent Perry and a RBI triple by
Canyon Vance. UVSC was unable to extend its lead through the next four innings.
"I told Coach Mathis that six runs wasn't going to be enough to win this game, and I ended up being right," said a frustrated Steve Gardner.
In the bottom of the ninth inning NNU's Chad Pfeifer, who had struck out in his first three at bats hit a
Derek Larsen offering over the left field fence. Nick Patee then hit a routine ground ball to Wolverine shortstop
Jeremy Harris who picked it cleanly, but trip over his own spikes, and was unable to make an accurate throw to first base. The error was followed by three straight singles, and a hit-by-pitch. Reliever
Todd Bateman came in and with runners on first and third balked the tying run in from third. A base hit in the next at bat scored the winning run and took the wind out of UVSC's sails.
In game two the Wolverines were unable to get anything going against Jensen in the seven inning game. The two hits came on singles by
Reno Mendenhall and
Kevin Hashimoto.
The Crusaders scored all their runs in two innings. NNU had a three run inning in the fourth and a seven run inning in the fifth.
During the current 10-day road trip the Wolverines now 7-11 went 5-4 in nine games with a big win over 37th ranked Oregon State, and two wins over University of Portland. UVSC swept NNU in a two-day doubleheader on Friday and looked to come home from the trip sitting at .500, but after losing the four run lead in the ninth in game one the Wolverines were unable to recover.
UVSC will finally be home on Tuesday after 18 straight games on the road. The Wolverines will host Albertson College in a doubleheader starting at 12:00 pm at Brigham Young University. UVSC will play all its home games at BYU due to the construction of Parkway Crossing Stadium, the future home of Wolverine baseball.
