LACEY, Wash. - After playing 38 games on the road or at neutral sites, Saint Martin's Baseball rewarded their fans with a 5-4 victory to open the 10-game home stand, splitting on the day with Northwest Nazarene on Friday.

Game One

The Saints (14-26, 11-21 GNAC) started the first game by putting two runs up in the first inning on RBI singles from Trevor Young and Shaan Kothari, scoring both Steven Sordahl and Adam Eskil.

Northwest Nazarene (21-24, 19-16) quickly responded in the top of the second with three runs, highlighted by a two RBI single from McCluskey, to give NNU a 3-2 lead. The Crusaders tacked on one final run the fourth on a RBI single from Sheehan to extend their lead to 4-2.

Brandon Witherspoon drove in the first run in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly, scoring catcher Zach Raczok. The Saints tied the game on aggressive base running, scoring Kahi Hirano on a pass ball and later took the lead on a Austin Feist RBI single to center field, plating Sordahl.

Aaron Shoup (4-3) settled down after the second inning, only allowing one run over his next five innings. Shoup earned the victory after going seven innings, on 120 pitches with four runs, three earned on eight hits and four strike outs. Mickey Walker was called in from the bullpen to lock down the rare six-out save, and did so, going two innings, allowing three hits and struck out one. Feist made a driving catch, with the sun in his eyes, to strand the tying and go-ahead run on base to end the ballgame.

Game Two

NNU took an early advantage in the back end of the doubleheader, scoring a run in the first on a sacrifice fly and one in the second behind a RBI single for catcher Pollock.

The Saints' bats came alive in the second on a Brandon Witherspoon double to right field, plating Eskil, which gave the Saints their first run of the game. 

SMU locked the game in a tie in the third, after Sordahl singled to right field, bringing home Isaac Hegamin, Sordahl's 17th RBI of the year.

Northwest Nazarene regained the lead in the fifth inning, scoring three runs, on three individual RBI singles from the heart of the order. In the sixth inning, the Crusaders sixth run of the game crossed home plate after a groundball second allowed Redford to advance the final 90-feet.

The Saints started a comeback attempt in the bottom of the sixth on Witherspoon's second double of game, and scored on the next at-bat, a single by Kothari. The rally continued in the seventh inning, when the Saints loaded the bases with nobody out. Sordahl picked up his second RBI of the game on a fielder's choice groundout to the shortstop. With the game-tying runner on second and one out, the Crusaders worked out of the jam with two strikeouts to clinch the 6-4 victory.

Tanner Inouye (2-2) got the start on the mound, going 4.2 innings on five runs, four earned with eight hits and one strike out before Jacob Phipps was called in the finish the final 1.1 innings.

Up Next: The Saints finish up the four game series against the Crusaders on Saturday, April 29 with a noon start time. Live stats and video will be available for both games on smusaints.com.