Box Score

Oakland, CA - The Urban Knights held the Crusaders in check for the first half of Friday night's game, but Northwest Nazarene came on strong in the later innings to pull away from Academy of Art in a 10-0 loss. Nate Gercken backed up Zach Mexicano's strong outing with his best of the season, but the big righty came out on the short end as NNU starter Patrick Patterson spun a seven-inning gem to shut down the Knights offense.

Gercken (0-2) found himself in a couple tough spots, and although he was able to get out of it early, later in the game he wasn't so lucky. The Pinole, CA native went seven strong innings, giving up six runs (four earned) and striking out five, only walking two in the process. Patterson only gave up one hit in seven innings, striking out seven, but walked five Urban Knights, which probably kept him from going the distance.

"I thought he threw well today. He kept the ball around the plate and didn't beat himself," said head coach Brian Guinn. "He kept Northwest Nazarene off balance. If we play defense behind him, which we can, he's going to get that support and he's going to win games."

The Crusaders got on the board in the first inning, but Gercken could have been in a lot more trouble. Gercken gave up back to back singles to start the game, but then got Zach Steele to pop up to first. Logan Parker then reached on an error that also allowed Sean McDonald  to score, then went to second when Gercken threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt. The Crusaders got the bases loaded, but Gercken struck out DH Kris Bos to end the threat with NNU up 1-0.

Patterson set the Knights down in order in the first, and Gercken only gave up a hit in the top of the second, settling down and scattering a couple hits until the fifth and using a key double play to keep the Crusaders down. That was when the cards stopped playing out in the Knights favor.

McDonald singled to lead of the inning, his third hit of the game. Matos followed with a single, and Steele reached on a bunt when third-baseman Kenny Rollins took an extra second taking a peek at the lead runner, allowing him to reach base and load the bases. Gercken got Parker to tap one back to him, getting the force out at home, but the bases were still loaded with one out. Charlie Gorzo poked one through to get a run across. The Crusaders went on to score only one more, but the lead was 3-0 after the fifth.

Northwest Nazarene added another in the sixth when McDonald reached on an error by Myles Babitt in left field. Matos lofted a sacrifice fly to score the leadoff man. The Crusaders pushed across two more in the seventh when Zach Morse and Bos both had RBI singles. NNU added four runs off of second Knights pitcher Ryan Donahoe in the final two innings to get to the final score of 10-0. Meanwhile, Patterson was shutting the Knights down on offense, and while he allowed five walks, he only gave up one hit in seven innings.

"We were a little off at the plate," Guinn said. "Our team can hit, we know that, but we just need to get in there and get our timing down. It's still early and we have a lot of faith in our team to correct its mistakes."

McDonald (4 for 6, 2R, 1RBI) led the way for Northwest Nazarene, setting the table along with number two batter Matos (2 for 5, 2RBI, 1R) all game. In fact, the top five spots in the order combined to go 12 for 25. They were causing fits for the Knights all game, driving in six RBIs and scoring five runs. Ryan Kuhn and Nate Forseth came in to close the deal for the Crusaders.