NATCHITOCHES - Colin Bear threw eight scoreless innings and allowed just one hit as he led Northwestern State to an 8-0, Southland Conference baseball opener on Saturday.
 
McNeese rebounded with a 4-1 win in the nightcap as the two teams, both 4-10 and 1-1 in conference play, will play the rubber match of the series at 11 a.m. on Sunday.  The game was moved up from a 1 p.m. start due to forecasted rain in the area.
 
Bear (1-2) notched his first win of the season after he strapped the McNeese bats to just one hit, that coming with two out in the top of the sixth inning.  He struck out eight and walked four while throwing 120 pitches.  Meanwhile, the Demon offense resumed where they left off after an 18-hit attack at Southern on Wednesday and pounded out 12 hits in Saturday's victory.
 
Right fielder Jordan Buckley led the way with a 4-for-4 game, including a RBI triple and another run scoring single.  Third baseman Ryan Westbrook finished the game 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored and first baseman Will Watson finished 2-for-5 with a RBI and a run scored.
 
Trey Brown (0-2) took the loss for McNeese after he gave up seven runs, all earned, on 10 hits with two walks and six strike outs in 6.1 innings pitched.
 
In the second game, the Demons got another quality outing from starting pitcher Jacob Roark but a two-run home run McNeese's Seth Granger in the top of the eighth inning opened up a 4-1 lead for the Cowboys.
 
Roark (1-2) took the loss after he threw 7.1 innings and gave up four runs on nine hits with two walks and six strikeouts. 
 
The Demons finished with six hits in the game, led by Todd Wallace's 2-for-3 outing.
 
The Cowboys got a good outing from starter Blake Ware (2-1) who allowed just one run on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
 
McNeese had four players with multiple hits with Granger, Nick Eubanks, Renny Weber and Tyler Klouser each getting two hits.