NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State will enter this weekend's Southland Conference baseball series with Lamar as one of four teams tied for first place in the league standings and will be looking to keep its current hot streak going.
 
Winners of five of their last eight games, including Southland series wins over McNeese State and Texas-San Antonio, the Demons (7-12, 4-2) and Cardinals (8-12, 1-5) will get things started at 6:30 on Friday at Brown-Stroud Field.  The series will continue with a 2 p.m. start on “Senior” Saturday as all senior citizens will be admitted for just $5, and Sunday's 1 o'clock finale is “Kids Cheer Free” day as all kids will be admitted free with a paid adult admission.
 
All three games will be broadcast live on the Demon Sports Network with Patrick Netherton handling the call.
 
Senior left-handed pitcher Colin Bear (2-2, 3.94 ERA) will be going for his third consecutive victory as he'll get the start on the mound in the opener.  In his last two starts, he's thrown 14.2 innings, has allowed four runs and struck out 13 batters.
 
Sophomore righty Jacob Roark (1-2, 5.33) will get the nod on Saturday while junior lefty Jacob Williford (0-1, 9.53) is expected to start Sunday's game.
 
Offensively, the Demons have seen their bats explode recently and have seen their team average jump nearly 30 points since the start of the conference season.
 
Right fielder Jordan Buckley is one of three Demons to have a .300 or better batting average with a team-high .353 mark which also ranks him eighth in the conference.  He leads the team and ranks second in the Southland with 14 stolen bases.
 
Left fielder Will Watson is batting .321 while first baseman Nick Hinojos is hitting .320 with team highs in home runs (4) and runs batted in (19).  Hinohos is riding a five-game hitting streak and has reached base eight consecutive times.
 
Lamar, who is coming off a 5-4 mid-week win over seventh-ranked Rice, is hitting .249 as a unit and is led by third baseman Darian Johnson and outfielder Jeff Abt's .280 averages.
 
On the mound, the Cardinals are expected to throw RHP Eric Harrington (0-3, 4.96) on Friday and LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (2-1, 0.96) on Sunday with a pitcher yet to be determined on Saturday.
 
The Demons took two out of three from Lamar last season in Beaumont and head coach J.P. Davis is 5-7 against the Cardinals as NSU's skipper.