OREM, Utah - The Northwest Nazarene University baseball team outscored NCAA Division I Utah Valley State 4-3 in their opener, but lost the nightcap 15-6 in a pair of non-conference games on Tuesday in Orem.

The Crusaders (29-21) used a three-run fourth to beat Utah Valley as Mitch Kochis had two of NNU's five hits and Ryne Phillips had two of its four RBI. 

Tyler Liebelt pitched four innings in relief allowing only one unearned run to get the win. Nate Slonaker 
pitched the ninth, earning his sixth save.

"We played very well in the first game," commented NNU head coach Tim Onofrei.  "In the second game we just ran out of pitching.  Having played the series in Billings over the weekend, that's just a ton of innings in the last five days."

Utah Valley State outhit NNU 17-12 in the second game and scored in every inning excaept the sixth.

The Crusaders got two hits each from Severo Rodriguez, Ryne Phillips, Ryan VanBeek and Kochis. Rodriguez had a home run.

NNU will have a break this weekend for graduation and will come back to complete the 2008 season next weekend against Central Washington at Vail Field.