NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State's baseball team enjoyed its most successful series of the young season last weekend.
 
As the Demons prepare for a pair of midweek matchups, the same can be said for the two programs NSU will face as their final tune-ups before Southland Conference play begins.
 
The Demons (5-6) close out a four-game homestand Tuesday night when they host ULM (6-3) at 6:30 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field. Following that matchup, NSU heads south on I-49 to face UL Lafayette in the conclusion of a home-and-home series with  the Ragin' Cajuns.
 
The Warhawks and Ragin' Cajuns are coming off series wins against Sam Houston State and Alabama, respectively, with the Warhawks sweeping the Bearkats.
 
"They're playing with a lot more confidence and a bigger comfort level with (second-year head coach) Bruce (Peddie)," third-year head coach Lane Burroughs said. "He has his team and his coaching staff in there, so you know they're better. They just came off a great weekend beating a really good Sam Houston team that 's picked to win our league, so you'll know they'll be ready to go. We're catching them when we're playing them really well, and we're playing two teams who really had great weekends."
 
Because of weather, all nine of the Warhawks games this season have been played on weekends, making Tuesday's matchup the first midweek game of the year for ULM.
 
The Demons have played a pair of midweek games, going 0-2 in non-weekend affairs, but fared much better in a weekend sweep of Sacred Heart.
 
In 34 innings against the Pioneers, NSU pitching allowed just two runs. The Demons bullpen turned in eight scoreless innings across the weekend, including seven shutout innings in the 16-inning series finale Saturday night, which the Demons won, 2-1.
 
While midweek games often give coaches a chance to experiment with different lineups and different pitchers, the Demons saw one emerge late Saturday night, as right-hander Brandon Stane turned in 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief against Sacred Heart to earn his first collegiate win.
 
"Brandon bided his time last year as a redshirt," Burroughs said. "He has a really good breaking ball. He's a strike thrower. He's a competitor. He isn't backing down. That's what he did. We felt good with the matchup, and we just kept him in there and he got the two big double plays."
 
While Stane and fellow relievers Chase Hymel and Brandon Smith delivered the key pitches, senior Chase Daughdrill collected the key hit of the weekend, a walkoff single in the 16^th inning.
 
It marked Daughdrill's sixth hit of Saturday's doubleheader, which included his second home run of the season, and lifted his team-leading batting average to .310.
 
"Chase is a competitor," Burroughs said of Daughdrill, who has started games at third base, second base, first base and designated hitter. "He doesn't want to be our DH, but (Matthew) Alford is defending really well at third and (David) Fry is defending really well at second.
 
"We can't take him out of lineup, because he's one of our best hitters. He wants to win as bad as anybody. He wants to be a great Northwestern State Demon, and he's not looking at future rewards. He lives in the moment like we talk about."

The Demons will start right-hander Evan Tidwell (0-2, 7.15) against ULM, which will counter with right-hander Brayden Bouchey (0-0, 0.00, 5 IP).
 
Following Tuesday's game, NSU will head to Lafayette to face the Ragin' Cajuns, who took two of three from Alabama, and defeated the Demons, 7-3, in NSU's home opener on Feb. 18. First pitch at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field is set for 6 p.m.