Box Score HUNTSVILLE, Texas –  Austin Tanner's and Steven Spann's pitching performances led the Northwestern State baseball team to a series victory with a 3-1 win in the rubber match against preseason favorite Sam Houston Sunday afternoon in Southland Conference action at Don Sanders Stadium.  
 
Austin Tanner started on the mound for the Demons (14-12 overall, 6-3 SLC) and worked 4.2 scoreless innings.  He gave up four hits and walked one along with two strikeouts. Spann finished the game with 4.1 innings pitched and one run allowed, a home run in the eighth inning.  He allowed three hits and struck out three batters.
 
"My assistants persuaded me.  I wanted to go with Spann first and they wanted to go with Tanner first and bring in Spann, and they were right," said head coach Lane Burroughs. "The bigger the moment, the better Tanner performs, and that is the way he was in high school."
 
The win marked the third series win in as many conference sets for the Demons.  Sam Houston, which was nationally ranked two weeks ago and beat Top 25-ranked Texas A&M last week, dropped to 19-10  and 4-5 in league play.
 
Tanner, a freshman, had two innings in which he sat down every batter he faced, and until the fifth inning he had only faced three over the minimum. 
 
"To work into the fifth inning with a quality start and hand it over to Spann is all we could ask for," said Burroughs. "We had tremendous pitching.  Our staff walked only one guy this weekend."
 
Northwestern State avoided a big inning from the Bearkats in the fifth inning. Shea Pierce led off the inning with a single through the right side and took second base on an infield single by Luke Plucheck a batter later.
 
After Colt Atwood grounded out and Tanner walked O'Hearn to load the bases, Spann took the mound and forced Azar to fly out to right field to preserve the shutout.
 
Spann allowed the only run of the game in the eighth inning on a homer from Hayden Simmerly with two outs, but responded to strike out Corey Toups on three pitches to end the inning.
 
The Demons took advantage of free passes in the first inning that put Joel Atkinson and Cort Brinson on first and second, respectively, after both were hit by pitches.  Chase Daughdrill singled through the left side to score Atkinson from second base.
 
"We don't move our feet, and we get hit by pitches.  We don't give them free passes and we get several, and that was the difference in the series," said Burroughs.  "We came in here and beat a great club.
 
"Our guys were opportunistic.  That's what we have to be because we're not a big power club and not going to hit a lot of home runs," he said. "We know who we are.  We have to have sacrifices, take balls in the dirt, and get free passes.  When we get those, we have to take advantage of them."
 
NSU scored in the first inning of every game in the three-game set.
 
C.J. Webster led off the fifth inning with a single through the left side and advanced to second base when Nick Heath was hit by a pitch. Both runners moved up a bag after SHSU starter Jason Simms uncorked a wild pitch. 
 
Edwin Gomez followed with a single into right field that scored Webster, and Heath scored on a throwing error by right fielder Simerly, who tried to prevent Heath's score. Gomez was awarded one RBI on the play that pushed the score to 3-0.
 
"Daughdrill had a big hit (in the first inning) to score the first run, and then Gomez drove in a run in the eighth," said Burroughs.  "We got the big hit when we needed it, and I'm proud of these guys.  We have a long way to go and a lot of season left, but to go on the road and win a series says a lot about the work we've put in."
 
The Bearkats had another chance to score from third base in the sixth inning, but a wonderful catch from Dugas on a liner at first base off the bat of Pierce kept Toups from scoring.
 
"We made some big plays today (defensively).  Spann's play in the eighth was the play of the game," said Burroughs.
 
Hunter Courson led off the eighth inning with a single, and Spann cut him down on a comebacker that turned into a double play turned by Gomez to end the inning.  Spann struck out Plucheck after the single.
 
"We didn't turn the double play yesterday (in the Demons' loss), but we got it today," said Burroughs. "Great job from coach (Chris) Curry and the pitching staff, and to walk only one batter on the weekend is incredible."
 
The Demons will play two midweek games, the first at Brown-Stroud Field against Grambling at 6 o'clock on Tuesday.  The second game will be on Wednesday at Louisiana Tech.  The Demons will host Nicholls for a three-game set that starts on Friday at 6:30.