Box Score NATCHITOCHES – Adam Oller willed the Northwestern State baseball team Saturday night to a 7-2 win over Chicago State with seven strong innings on the mound in the second game of a doubleheader after a 10-5 loss to McNeese in the early contest.
 
Oller (2-0) earned his second start on the mound for NSU (7-7) and gave up two runs on five hits and struck out four in the contest.  Joey Parrack pitched a perfect eighth inning and Steven Spann finished the ninth with a walk and strikeout.
 
"The story of the game is Adam Oller.  He gave us the best start we've had all year, and we needed it to with five games in four days," said head coach Lane Burroughs.  "To go out and throw seven innings as a true freshman against a good offensive team is tremendous. That's what a weekend guy looks like.
 
"A start like his, Parrack with the set up, and Spann to close it is going to be hard to beat if we can get it," said the second-year skipper. "Oller is the player of the game with the quality start."
 
Chicago State, who defeated NSU 9-3 on Friday night, fell to 5-7 overall.  Brown-Stroud Field will host a game between Chicago State and McNeese State on Sunday at 12 o'clock, and the Demons will finish the weekend with one hour later against the Cowboys.
 
Edwin Gomez started off the second game with a hit-by-pitch in the two-run first inning.  He stole second and Atkinson followed with a hit-by-pitch four pitches later.  Two batters later, Gomez and Atkinson moved up on a double steal and scored when Regan Kaufman lined a double to right center field.
 
Chicago State answered in the second with one run on a Sanfor Hunt single through the left side to score Jordan Stroschein who reached on a double to left field.   
 
C.J. Webster knocked in Kaufman on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning before the Demons opened up a big four-run inning in the fifth frame.
 
Nick Heath led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Gomez.  Heath stole third base and Atkinson followed with his second hit-by-pitch of the game. Caleb Dugas singled to shortstop to score Heath and advance Atkinson who scored with Dugas on a double to right center. 
 
Dugas advanced to third base on a single through the right side from Kaufman, and scored on a groundout by Underwood.
 
"We shook the lineup and switched a few guys," said Burroughs.  "Chase Daughdrill had the big double that drove in two runs and Kaufman had two big RBIs.
 
"We had some two-out hits, but what we really did today was run like madmen," he said. "That's who we are.  We had four stolen bases, took some balls in the dirt.  We ran hard and got after them."
 
Chicago State scored the final run of the game in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly from Hunt to score Chase Matheson who led off the inning with a double to left field.
 
Kaufman finished 3-of-6 at the plate with three runs batted in in both games. Daughdrill was 4-of-9 with two runs batted in and one scored.  Dugas and Heath each had two runs batted in and scored.
 
Errors in seven-run fourth inning really crippled the Demons in the first game on Saturday.  Matt Williams and Jackson Gooch were hit by back-to-back pitches to lead off the inning.  Chayse Marion followed with a full-count walk to load the bases.
 
One run scored when Connor Lloyd reached on a fielder's choice and another scored on an error by shortstop Matthew Alford in the same at-bat. One batter later, two more runs scored on a fielder's choice and error.
 
"I told our guys we went through a little rough stretch, and it's part of the season and part of the storm," said Burroughs.  "We weathered it tonight.  We had great team meeting after the McNeese game and responded in the second game."
 
Northwestern State scored two runs in the third inning to jump up 2-0.  Gomez, who singled to left field scored on a Dugas single to right field. Dugas scored when Kaufman singled to left field after a single down the left field line from Chase Daughdrill.
 
After the Cowboys scored another run in the fifth inning, NSU tried to rally with three runs in the sixth inning.   Logan Garrett reached on a bunt single and got to second on a walk to Alford.  Both runs scored after Heath tripled to left field. Heath scored on a wild pitch.
 
John Gault (2-1) took the loss in the first game on 3.1 innings pitched and seven runs (five earned) allowed on three this and two walks. Andrew Adams finished the fourth inning with one hit and a strikeout.
 
 McNeese State improved to 9-4 on the year. ?