NATCHITOCHES – Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week Adam Oller will try and set the tone when he takes the mound on Thursday night to help Northwestern State win its sixth straight league series when it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game set that starts at 6:30 at Brown-Stroud field.
 
Thursday's game will be broadcast on 100.7 KZBL-FM in Natchitoches and for free online at NSUDemons.com.  The second game will be on Friday at 6:30 and the finale will be on Saturday at 2 o'clock.  
 
NSU (22-14, 10-5 SLC) is in a first place tie with Nicholls and McNeese State, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (19-19, 9-6) is one game behind in a tie with Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana.
 
"(The Islanders) are up there at the top, and Scott Malone (head coach) has them going," said Demon head coach Lane Burroughs. "He'll have them fired up.
 
"It never stops.  Every weekend is big and every game is big," he said.  
 
Oller (4-0) beat McNeese on a complete-game shutout in his last outing.  He allowed only six hits and fanned six.  He enters the Corpus Christi series with a 2.03 earned run average in 10 appearances.  The freshman has pitched 53.1 innings and punched out 32 batters and walked eight.
 
His older brother Josh (2-0, 3.00 ERA) will take the mound on Friday, and Austin Tanner will pitch on Saturday.  Tanner (1-1, 2.14) also threw a complete-game shutout against McNeese State in his last outing.
 
The Islanders will start right-hander Matt Danton (5-2, 3.19) on Thursday. He has nine starts in as many appearances, and has 42 strikeouts and 13 walks in 62 innings pitched.
 
Lefty Trevor Belicek (1-5, 4.64) will pitch on Friday, and right-hander Devin Skapura (4-2, 3.10) will take the mound on Saturday.
 
"They can really pitch.  You look at their numbers, and that fact jumps out at you," said Burroughs. 
 
Chase Daughdrill holds a .310 batting average and Bret Underwood follows with a .309 average.  Cort Brinson (.299), Nathan Lyons (.297) and Caleb Dugas (.296) follow them.  Daughdrill also leads the team with 31 RBIs.
 
Brandon Tierney leads the Islanders with a .331 batting average, and is followed by Jordan Lee (.315) and Cody Stephens (.302).  Kyle Danford has 22 RBIs and Cody Stephens and Tyler Ware each have 21.
 
NSU will travel to take on Arkansas for a midweek series with the Razorbacks on Tuesday and Wednesday before they host Central Arkansas for a three-game set.