NATCHITOCHES – After working overtime to win the opening game of a Southland Conference baseball doubleheader Friday night, Northwestern State finds itself in a holding pattern.
 
A lightning delay and a strong cell of storms behind it caused the Demons and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to suspend the second game of the doubleheader in the top of the seventh inning with NSU leading 4-0.
 
The game is scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. Saturday with the third game of the series to follow after the completion. The teams also could play Sunday under the same setup. The second game of the series must be played to completion before starting the third game.
 
In the opener, Daniel Garner's 10^th-inning single lifted the Demons to a 4-3 victory in their second straight extra-inning conference victory.
 
"I'm very proud of the way we came back," fourth-year coach Lane Burroughs said. "I thought Nate Jones was unbelievable. We brought him in, and he gave us a chance to win. We were right where we were the other day, a big-time 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded. He throws a ball down the middle and gets an out."
 
Garner's second walkoff hit of the year gave the Demons (23-18, 12-10) a season-long four-game winning streak and made a winner of Jones (2-2), who worked 1 2-3 scoreless innings, stranding the bases loaded in the 10^th inning.
 
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth, the Demons rallied against a pair of Islanders (14-27, 4-15) relievers to tie the game on Bret Underwood's RBI fielder's choice.
 
After Jones stranded the bases loaded in the 10^th, Cort Brinson was hit with a pitch for the 44^th time in his career, tying the school record.
 
William Townsend pinch ran for Brinson and took second base on a David Fry sacrifice bunt before Garner hooked a Garrett Harris (2-2) pitch into left field for the game-winning run.
 
"I'm proud of our guys for not quitting and for getting on base," Burroughs said. "Cort gets hit by a pitch, we bunt him over and Daniel Garner comes up with the walk-off single. We've got to come back out tomorrow or Sunday or whenever it is and keep playing hard."
 
In the nightcap, left-hander Chase Hymel spun six scoreless innings before the weather delay and the Demons backed him up with a two-run second inning and single runs in the fourth and sixth innings to take a 4-0 lead.
 
"Chase was pitching probably his best game of the year, and it's unfortunate he can't finish it," Burroughs said. "You make decisions and you live with them. We probably should have started the game earlier, but we didn't. There was a cell on top of us. We had to go by what technology we have." AMCC  000 010 020 0 - 3 10 3
NSU   001 100 001 1 - 4 8 3
W - Nathan Jones (2-2). L - Garrett Harris (2-2). 2B - AMCC, Brett Burner. Highlights: AMCC, Zacarias Hardy 2-5; Burner 2-4, 2B, RBI; Cullen Jozwiak 2-4. NSU, Bret Underwood 2-4, RBI; Daniel Garner 2-5, GW RBI.
Records: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14-27, 4-15; Northwestern State 23-18, 12-10.