CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Northwestern State knew what Texas A&M-Corpus Christi left-hander Trevor Belicek brought to the mound.
 
Facing the Southland Conference's top strikeout pitcher, the Demons accepted they would go down swinging a few times, but Northwestern State found a way to balance the punchouts – another key C.J. Webster hit.
 
Webster delivered a two-out, two-run single in a game-changing three-run fifth inning, which helped propel the Demons to their fourth straight win, a 6-3 victory against Southland Conference foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at Chapman Field.
 
"We knew going in Belicek's going to get his punchouts," third-year coach Lane Burroughs said. "He got a bunch of them. He's up there in the country. We hung in there and grinded it out. We got his pitch count up. We fouled off some pitches, and C.J. came up with the big hit."
 
Webster's two-run single followed his game-winning sacrifice fly in Friday's 4-3 win and helped the Demons (24-17, 16-6) secure the series victory. The Demons improved to 2-1-1 in conference road series this season.
 
Belicek (7-3) finished with 12 strikeouts, but he was outdueled by Demons right-hander Josh Oller (7-1), who piled up a career-high nine strikeouts of his own.
 
Oller surpassed his previous high of eight, set against McNeese State on March 28. Oller did his customary job of working in and out of trouble, scattering eight hits in seven-plus innings. Dueling Belicek did not change Oller's approach.
 
"I don't care how many strikeouts (Belicek) has, it doesn't affect anything I do," Oller said. "I'm still going out there trying to compete and get three outs before they score."
 
For the second time in as many games, the Islanders (19-19, 9-11) struck first, as Justin Perales' sacrifice fly put Texas A&M-Corpus Christi up 1-0 after two innings.
 
The lead grew to 2-0 when Brett burner flicked an RBI single to center field in the fourth inning.
 
The next inning, the Demons, with some help from the Islanders' defense, began to solve Belicek. Nick Heath reached on an error to start the inning before Matthew Alford delivered an infield single.
 
Garrett Logan then dropped a bunt down the third-base line that Belicek could not handle cleanly, loading the bases. Following Logan's bunt, Joel Atkinson put the Demons on the board with a sacrifice fly.
 
Cort Brinson, who extended his hitting streak to 23 games with his second four-hit game of the season, singled to center to reload the bases.
 
After a strikeout, Webster fell behind 0-2 before driving the go-ahead single into center.
 
Oller delivered a shutdown inning in the fifth then watched as the Demons could not capitalize on a leadoff double by Caleb Dugas (3-for-5) in the sixth inning.
 
The Islanders appeared ready to seize momentum and at least tie the game in their half of the sixth, as Tyler Ware and Kyle Danford started the inning with consecutive singles, putting runners on the corners with nobody out.
 
Oller induced a hard groundball to third base off the bat of Zacarias Hardy. Alford cleanly picked the short hop and threw to David Fry covering second for the first out.
 
Ware was indecisive initially but took off for home, but Fry pivoted and made a strong, accurate throw home where Logan was able to tag out Ware and end the Islanders momentum.
 
"That could be the turning point of the game," Burroughs said. "It's baseball IQ. It's baseball awareness. You can't teach that. He's got it, and that's what makes him a special player. David's not the strongest, not the fastest, but he's got baseball IQ and awareness. For him to make that play, that was a huge part of the game."
 
The Demons added a single run in the seventh on a Brinson RBI single then two more in the eighth. When Texas A&M-Corpus Christi threatened in the eighth, Burroughs called on Brandon Smith, who allowed an inherited runner to score in the eighth before working a scoreless ninth to earn his seventh save of the season.
 
Smith's seven saves are tied for ninth in school single-season history and his nine career saves are tied for fifth on the all-time school list.
 
The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. with a matchup of right-handers. Northwestern State will send Jeffrey Stovall (4-3, 4.96) to the mound against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Devin Skapura (2-4, 4.32).
 
 NSU    000 030 120 -- 6 11 2
AMCC    ?010 100 010 -- 3 10 2
W -- Josh Oller (7-1). L -- Trevor Belicek (7-3). S -- Brandon Smith (7). 2B -- NSU, Joel Atkinson, Cort Brinson, Caleb Dugas. AMCC, Jordan Lee 2, Zacarias Hardy. Highlights: NSU, Atkinson 2B, RBI; Brinson 4-5, 2B, RBI; Caleb Dugas 3-5. AMCC, Lee 3-4, 2 2Bs; Hardy 2-4, 2B.
Records: Northwestern State 24-17, 16-6; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 19-19, 9-11.