Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Joey Parrack and Brandon Smith combined to hold Incarnate Word to one run in the final 6.2 innings, and allowed the Demons to score the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to in an 8-6 win in the rubber match to win the Southland Conference series at Sullivan Field.
 
NSU (27-21, 15-9 SLC) took its seventh series in eight played, and UIW fell to 15-29 on the season and 6-12 in league play.
 
Parrack pitched 3.2 innings and gave up one run on three hits.  He struck out two in 16 batters faced. Smith (1-2) earned the win on three innings, and allowed only one hit.
 
"Our bullpen was outstanding today after we did not get the best of starts today," said Demon head coach Lane Burroughs. "Joey and Brandon came in and gave us a chance to win.  They were the story of the game because they were outstanding."
 
Demon starter Austin Tanner pitched into a jam in the third inning and allowed three runs to score before Parrack came in to relieve him. He struck out the first batter he faced, allowed a hit, hit a batter and enduced a ground ball to end the inning.
 
Parrack went on to pitch a perfect fourth and sixth inning before Brandon Smith sat down nine of the 10 batters he faced.
 
Nick Heath broke up a 6-6 tie in the eighth inning when he scored on a safety squeeze bunt from Joel Aktinson.  Heath reached on a single through the right side, and took went first to third on a single to right field from C.J. Webster.
 
"Speed kills," said Burroughs. "The big thing from that inning Nick going first to third on C.J.'s hit. 
 
"Joel is one of our best bunters, and that made it a no-brainer," he said. "He put down a great bunt, and Nick can absolutely fly."
 
The Demons added an insurance run in the ninth inning when Chase Daughdrill singled up the middle and scored Caleb Dugas from second base. Dugas reached on a single up the middle with one out.
 
"Daughdrill's hit at the end of the game was huge because it put us up by two and gave us room," said Burroughs. "Joel had a great play that led off the inning."
 
Atkinson made a diving stop up the middle that kept the leadoff hitter for the Cardinals off of the base paths.
 
UIW opened the game in the second inning with one run, and NSU responded with three runs in the top of the third.  Webster led off the inning with a single up the middle, and scored on Edwin Gomez's double to right field.  Bret Underwood knocked in Gomez on a single up the middle, and Cort Brinson drove in Underwood on a single through the right side.
 
The Cardinals jumped up 5-3 in bottom of the third inning, and Nathan Lyons pulled the Demons closer with home run over the left center field wall.  NSU added another run in the fifth inning when Caleb Dugas scored on a throwing error by the UIW shortstop. 
 
UIW responded to jump back up 6-5, but NSU tied the game at 6-6 in the sixth inning when Heath scored on a single up the middle from Webster. Heath drew a four-pitch walk, stole second and advanced to third base on a passed ball.
 
Tanner pitched 2.1 innings and gave up five runs on six hits.  He allowed one walk and struck out one batter.
 
Alex Shaffer (1-2) took the loss from the bullpen on one inning pitched.   He allowed the go-ahead run on two hits.  UIW starter Jacob Potts lasted four innings and gave up four runs on five hits. 
 
Webster had three hits in the game, and it gave up him back-to-back three-hit games. He had one run batted in for the game.  Heath and Dugas each had two runs apiece.
 
Underwood and Daughdrill each had two hits in the game, and all but one Demon in the starting lineup had a hit.  The Demons outhit UIW 12-10 and only had one perfect inning against them, the first.
 
Northwestern State will not play a mid-week game before it host New Orleans for a three-game series in Southland Conference play.