NATCHITOCHES – After falling behind by four runs early Wednesday night, the Northwestern State baseball team had its chances to make the 2015 home opener a success.
 
The Demons, however, never could find the one big hit they needed and fell to UL Lafayette, 7-3, in their first game of the 2015 season at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
"When you have a poor start, your chances go way down," said assistant coach Bobby Barbier, who was forced into third-base coaching duty after head coach Lane Burroughs' ejection. "You don't get many opportunities against good teams. We put some pretty good at-bats together, but I told them, you don't get many opportunities against good teams. We had some chances late in the game."
 
Northwestern State (1-4) fell behind 4-0, as the Cajuns pounced on Demons starter Austin Tanner (0-1) for four runs in the first inning.
 
Joe Robbins delivered the inning's biggest hit, a two-run home run to center field that put the Cajuns (2-2) ahead 3-0. Tanner did not make it out of the first, lasting 2-3 of an inning, allowing four runs (all earned) on four hits with one walk and one strikeout.
 
Despite the early hole, the Demons began to chip away at the lead in the second inning when Joel Atkinson laced an RBI double into the left-field corner. Atkinson was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple and the umpires ruled Garrett Logan had not crossed the plate by the time Atkinson was tagged out.
 
Burroughs came out to argue the call and was ejected.  Burroughs' ejection, and the relief work of Josh Morris (3 1-3 scoreless innings) helped Northwestern State hang around.
 
"I actually thought we had more energy after that play," Barbier said. "If you don't have a reliever come in and settle the game down like (Morris) did, it can really get away from you. He gave us a chance. Most of our relievers threw well. We had some shots late in the game and just didn't get it done."
 
Chase Daughdrill, who finished 2-for-3 with two extra-base hits, drilled his first home run of the season, a solo shot off Gunner Leger (1-0) in the fourth inning, to cut the Cajuns' lead to 4-2.
 
Daughdrill later added a sixth-inning double for his second multi-hit game of the season.
 
"I got in a lot of hitters counts," Daughdrill said. "They fell behind me. It seemed to be a recurring theme. I just tried to put good swings on them, not give too much effort. I tried to cut it down and get something elevated and, hopefully put a good swing on it."
 
After the Cajuns pushed their lead back to four with a two-run fifth inning, Hunter Duvic and Jordan Shaffer combined for three scoreless innings of relief to keep NSU within striking distance.
 
Aiding that cause was a highlight-reel catch by Nick Heath in right field. With one out in the Cajuns eight inning, Brenn Conrad drove a Shaffer pitch toward the right-field wall.
 
Heath retreated, timed his jump perfectly and robbed Conrad of a home run to keep the margin at three. Heath left the game with an injury after the play, but not before Conrad tipped his helmet to the catch.
 
The Demons built on that momentum by scoring a run in the eighth on a Cort Brinson RBI single. Brinson's single put runners on first and second with one out, but UL Lafayette's sidearming Colton Lee came on and quelled the threat by retiring the next two NSU hitters.
 
Lee then retired the Demons in order in the ninth to record his first save of the season.
 
Daughdrill had NSU's lone multi-hit game, while Stefan Trosclair (2-for-5, RBI), Greg Davis (2-for-5), Robbins (2-for-4, 4 RBIs) and Evan Powell (2-for-5, RBI) all had multi-hit outings for UL Lafayette, which collected 12 hits on the night.
 
The Demons are scheduled to remain at home this weekend, as Creighton is set to travel to Natchitoches for a three-game weekend series, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
 ULL         400 020 001 – 7 12 1
NSU       010 100 010 – 3 7 0
W – Gunner Leger (1-0). L – Austin Tanner (0-1). S – Colton Lee (1). 2B – NSU, Chase Daughdrill; Joel Atkinson. HR – ULL, Joe Robbins (2); NSU, Daughdrill (1). Highlights: ULL, Stefan Trosclair 2-5, RBI; Greg Davis 2-5; Robbins 2-4, HR, 4 RBIs; Powell 2-5, RBI; NSU, Daughdrill 2-3, 2B, HR, RBI; Atkinson 2B, RBI.
Records: ULL 2-2; NSU 1-4.