NATCHITOCHES – After playing just one day in the past nine, the Northwestern State baseball team is itching to get back in action.
 
Thankfully – assuming Mother Nature complies – the Demons' busiest home stretch of the season begins Tuesday when NSU opens a two-game midweek series against Mississippi Valley State at 6:30 p.m.
 
The second game of the series will be a Buisnessman's Special, with the first pitch coming at noon. Special tickets will be available for $10 and will include a lunch from the Brown-Stroud Field concession stand, including a main item, a drink and candy item.
 
"The weather wreaked havoc on us last weekend, as it has all year," third-year head coach Lane Burroughs said. "We keep moving forward, and we're looking forward to hosting Mississippi Valley State and McNeese State this weekend. We've got five at home and good weather, so it ought to be a good week of baseball here at Brown-Stroud Field."
 
The Demons (12-10) split a pair of games at Stephen F. Austin on Friday before steady rain throughout Saturday forced the cancellation of the series finale.
 
Because Sunday's game was not played, Burroughs will start Jeffrey Stovall, typically NSU's Sunday starter, in the series opener against Mississippi Valley State.
 
"He'll start and probably go two or three (innings) to get his work in," Burroughs said. "He'll be ready for Sunday."
 
With two games against the Delta Devils (4-13-1), it won't be just Stovall and whoever Burroughs and his staff decide to start seeing time on the mound.
 
Burroughs scheduled a pair of two-game midweek series this year, although the first (Feb. 24-25 at Baylor) was reduced to a single game because of weather.
 
"This time of year, you've got a lot of guys who haven't stepped on the mound," Burroughs said. "You may need some of those guys down the stretch. We've had a very fortunate situation this year where our starters have taken us deep into some games. We've got some guys who need to pitch. We've got some guys we're going to need late in the year – in the conference tournament or hopefully a regional situation where if you get in the loser's bracket, you have to fight your way out of it and play multiple games in a day. That's the method behind the madness."
 
The two-game series is part of an extremely busy week for Mississippi Valley, which played a doubleheader against Jackson State on Monday.
 
Despite the quick turnaround, Burroughs said he knows what to expect from what is a very familiar opponent for the Demons skipper.
 
"I've competed against Mississippi Valley my whole life," Burroughs said. "Two of their assistant coaches went to my high school, and I coached one of them – Paxton Pace – at Mississippi State. They're going to come in here and play hard. They get after it. They go the JUCO route a lot. They get a lot of good Mississippi high school players who get overlooked. I've had some great battles with them over the years, and we're going to have to bring it."
 
Tuesday's game marks the first at Brown-Stroud Field since NSU initiated a facelift of the Prather Coliseum parking lot, which services many of the school's athletic facilities.
 
Fans attending baseball games from Tuesday through the conclusion of the 2015 season are encouraged to park in the lot along the third base and left field line or in the lot between the track complex and Turpin Stadium.