ORMOND BEACH, Fla. - Junior Demetric Turner of Eufaula, Ala., clobbered his second home run in as many games, but Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio) made an improbable rally and thwarted another to sweep the Ashford University baseball team in a Tuesday doubleheader.

Mount Vernon Nazarene (8-2 overall) came back from six runs down to win a high-scoring affair in the first game, 17-12, and held off the Saints in the finale, 10-7.

But the Cougars, a team that won 35 games a year ago, needed a controversial call in the last inning and a late pitching change to slide by a resilient Ashford squad that wouldn't go away in game two.

The Saints fell to 2-10 overall on the year, including a 1-5 mark at the Florida Collegiate Jamboree, with two games left to play tomorrow.

"We had the opportunity to play a high quality team like Mount Vernon Nazarene today and a lot of players stepped up," AU Head Coach John Govek said. "We were right there in both games today and our objective has to be finishing strong against another talented team tomorrow in Rio Grande."

Ashford nursed an early lead after a three-run first inning highlighted by a two-run double by Roman Davis of Gardnerville, Nev., who continued his hot hitting. Davis had a total of four RBI in game one and drove home six runs yesterday in AU's win over West Virginia Tech.

The Saints appeared to be pulling away with a seven-run fourth inning that featured six hits, one of which was Turner's second homer of the year, a three-run shot deposited over the left-field fence that plated Davis and pinch runner Mitch Jankowski of Brownsburg, Ind.

Unfortunately, Ashford's explosive offense and an efficient 5 2/3 inning outing that resulted in a no-decision from starter Hunter Allspaugh of Chadwick, Ill., couldn't stop the Cougars' frantic charge.

Despite being down 12-6 going into the seventh frame, MVNU rattled off 11 unanswered runs in the final two innings, including six in the top half of the seventh.

A critical error that should have ended the sixth inning prolonged the Cougars' momentum and five runs came across the plate. MVNU Catcher Travis McInerney had two of his four RBI in the sixth and plated the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh on a double.

Junior catcher Jason Fletcher of Huntley, Ill., drove in three AU runs on three hits in game one.

Freshman Michael Bruns of La Porte City, listed as an outfielder, put the shackles on the Cougars in relief of Jared Jones of Clinton, who was making his first career start on the mound.

Bruns, coming off his first collegiate hit in yesterday's game, made a memorable pitching debut, working 4 2/3 innings and striking out five. He retired five straight batters at one point and allowed just one earned run.

The Saints' offense awoke from slumber in the seventh inning, loading the bases with no outs to force out MVNU starter Jared Farmer. Sophomore Michael Caravia of Norridge, Ill., kept them loaded with an RBI single up the middle and Cameron Puetz of Peru, Ill., drew a bases-loaded walk for another run.

Fletcher then poked a single to left field for the Saints' third run of the inning to set the table for Davis with the bases still jammed. What appeared to be an RBI groundout turned into a costly double play as Fletcher was called out for runner's interference.

Darren Athey induced an infield pop-up while facing Turner to seal the Cougars' close victory.

Ashford closes out its trip in Florida with a doubleheader tomorrow morning against Rio Grande University (Ohio) beginning at 10 a.m.