NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State returns home after a competitive two-game baseball series at 4^th-ranked Arkansas when it hosts Southern in a three-game series beginning Friday at 6:30 at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
The Demons (1-2) defeated Jacksonville State in the season opener last Friday by a 4-2 score but saw their Saturday and Sunday games washed out due to the weather.  Meanwhile, Southern will enter the series 2-2 on the season and coming off a 10-3 loss to Southland Conference member Nicholls this past Tuesday.
 
NSU played two competitive games in mid-week action, falling to No. 4 Arkansas by 8-7 and 6-2 scores.  The Demons had a 6-4 lead on the Razorbacks in the eighth inning of the first game but allowed the Hogs to take a one-run lead into the ninth.  But the Demons rallied to tie the game in the top of the inning only to see the Razorbacks walk in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the frame.
 
In Wednesday's finale the Demons jumped on top once again but Arkansas used a four-run fourth inning to take the lead for good, then had to hold off a couple of late inning rallies by the Demons.
 
NSU is expected to go with the pitching rotation of RHP Joe Scanio on Friday, RHP A.J. Funk in Saturday's 2 p.m. game, and LHP Colin Bear in Sunday's 1 o'clock finale.
 
Scanio (1-0, 2.70 ERA) got the win in the season opener after he threw 6.2 innings and allowed just two hits and two runs with three walks and six strikeouts. 
 
The senior from St. Louis, Missouri improved his career record as a Demon to 7-0.
 
Funk (0-0, 0.00) saw his first action as a Demon against Arkansas where he threw just one-third of an inning and walked a batter.  And Bear (0-0, 6.35) started the first game against the Razorbacks and allowed four runs on four hits in 5.2 innings with three walks and six strikeouts.
 
Offensively, the Demons are hitting .245 as a team but have two players hitting over .400 in third baseman Nick Hinojos (.462) and right fielder Jordan Buckley (.444).  Buckley has also stolen four bases in four attempts while Hinojos tops the team with three runs batted in.
 
On the flip side, Demon opponents are hitting just .198 against the NSU pitching staff and has stolen just two bags on three attempts.
 
Southern, who opened the season at the Urban Invitational Tournament at Houston's Minute Made Park last weekend, beating Prairie View and Alabama State and falling to No. 24 UC Irvine.
 
The Jaguars are hitting .206 as a team and led by second baseman Demario Ellis' .308 batting average.
 
Southern is expected to roll out Brian Foster (1-0, 0.00 ERA), Jose De Leon (0-1, 2.45) and Jesse Holliday (1-0, 0.00) as this week's pitching rotation.
 
This will be the first time since the 2005 season the Demons have faced the Jaguars.  NSU won that game by a 2-0 score in a game that was played at a Louisiana-Lafayette tournament.