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BILLINGS, Mont. – The weather was not the best, but the Montana State University Billings baseball team was still able to get both games of their Great Northwest Athletic Conference doubleheader against Saint Martin's University in Sunday afternoon. Both games featured classic pitching duals with the Saints (11-25, 7-11 GNAC) claiming the first game 1-0 before the Yellowjackets (15-17, 6-12 GNAC) took game-two by the same score.
 
“Our pitchers really did a great job for us today,” said head baseball coach Rob Bishop. “We couldn't have asked them to do anything different. We just could not find the hits or runs to back Sam (Paterson) up in the first game and then (Blake) Loran stepped up big for us in the second game like he has several times this season.”
 
Game One: SMU 1, MSUB 0
 
In game-one, Samuel Paterson and Tommy DeBoer dualed it out on the mound with their defenses stepping up behind them to keep the game scoreless through the first eight innings. Both pitched excellent games with Paterson (1-6) retiring seven batters and DeBoer (2-5) fanning six to claim the win.
 
It was Travis Jones who gave SMU the one-run lead in the top of the ninth with a double to the gap in left-center field that scored Mario Sanelli from second base. The Saints then sent the Yellowjackets three-up, and three-down to secure the win with Zach Carter coming in to close the game and earn his second save of the season.
 
Game Two: MSUB 1, SMU 0
 
The second game was eerily similar to the first as Matt Eames (2-2) went up against Saint Martin's Kaleb Wilson (1-3) with Eames coming out on top. Eames gave up just two hits in seven innings of work as he pitched the complete game and struck out 10 batters while Wilson worked through the first five and a third innings to suffer the loss.
 
The deciding hit was delivered by Blake Loran in the bottom of the fourth inning when he ripped a single up the middle, giving Blake Nelson enough time to round the bases from second and cruise home for the score. It was Loran's 13^th RBI of the season and Nelson's 17^th score.
 
MSUB will next face the Crusaders from Northwest Nazarene University in a rare, three-day series. Because the series in Nampa, Idaho was cut short due to inclement weather, the Yellowjackets and Crusaders will play a six-game series with twinbills on Thursday, April 19, Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21. All games are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.