BATON ROUGE – Northwestern State's brutal non-conference baseball schedule continues on Wednesday at 6:30 when the Demons visit 10^th-ranked LSU at Alex Box Stadium.
 
The game will be the first of at least 22 baseball games to be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network which is flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches.  Audio streaming will also be available on www.nsudemons.com by clicking the “Fan Central” button on the website.  And live in-game updates will be available on Twitter by follow @NSUDemonsBsB.
 
The Demons (5-10) will be facing their third team and playing their fifth game against teams ranked in the top 10.  NSU dropped two games against fourth-ranked Arkansas on Feb. 21-22 and then at No. 5 Texas A&M a week later.
 
NSU is coming off a three-game series win over McNeese State to open Southland Conference play and has won three of its last four games.  LSU (13-3) saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end after a 7-1 loss to Notre Dame on Sunday.
 
Demon head coach J.P. Davis is expected to start junior righty A.J. Funk on Wednesday while LSU will go with freshman right-hander Aaron Nola.  Funk will be making his second start and sixth appearance on the season and is 0-0 with a 6.00 ERA while Nola delivered a dominant performance last Tuesday in just his second career start, blanking Tulane through eight innings of work in a 5-0 victory.
 
Offensively, the Demons have seen their batting average leap 32 points since March 2 behind the sharp hitting of current LSWA Hitter of the Week Ryan Westbrook and leadoff man Will Watson.
 
Westbrook is coming off a week where he hit .529 in four games with two home runs, two doubles and eight RBI.  He has lifted is season average from .083 to .268 during that span.
 
Watson has become a bit of a surprise for NSU in the lead off spot.  In 14 games at that spot, he's led off the game for the Demons by reaching base eight times and has six singles.  Hitting a team-high .317 on the season, Watson has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and has multiple hits in six of those.
 
LSU leads the series with Northwestern State, 50-11, though the Demons posted a 5-2 win over the Tigers last season (April 12) in Alex Box Stadium. NSU's victory ended the Tigers' 12-game win streak in the series.
 
Following Wednesday's game, the Demons will return to conference action when they hit the road to face Texas-San Antonio in what will be the first weekend away from home this season.