Box Score RUSTON – Northwestern State has had an up-and-down run in one-run games.
 
In their 16^th one-run decision of the season, the Demons dropped a 5-4 decision as Louisiana Tech used a pair of bases-loaded, ninth-inning walks to rally from a one-run deficit and sweep the season series from Northwestern State.
 
The Demons (27-21), who dropped their third straight game, used a pair of two-run innings - the third and the seventh to take a 4-3 lead.
 
After relievers Jesse Fruge and Nathan Jones worked 3 2-3 innings of hitless relief, Chase Lunceford welcomed Austin Reich (2-1) with a leadoff single to right field.
 
The Bulldogs (33-14) sent up Michael Deceglie to pinch it. Deceglie was poised to lay down a sacrifice bunt but instead drew a four-pitch walk.
 
A passed ball during the next at-bat put runners on second and third before Reich blew a full-count fastball past Marshall Boggs for the first out.
 
An intentional walk loaded the bases before Brent Diaz fouled off several two-strike pitches before working the game-tying walk.
 
J.D. Perry watched a couple of borderline pitches go his way in the final at bat, drawing a four-pitch walk to hand the Demons their ninth one-run loss of the season.
 
One night after being shut out on five hits by three Bulldogs pitchers, the Demons collected 10 hits, including Bret Underwood's third home run of the season – a two-run shot that broke a scoreless tie in the third inning.
 
Underwood's blast broke a string of nine straight solo home runs for the Demons and was NSU's first since hitting three home runs in a 7-5, 10-inning win at Central Arkansas on April 24.
 
After hitting into three double plays in the first three innings, Louisiana Tech put together a three-run, two-out rally to take the lead in its half of the third.
 
The Bulldogs had runners on first and third with nobody out in the third when Tim Winders induced a line-drive double play. Raphael Gladu followed with an RBI double to left-center and Chandler Hall followed with a go-ahead two-run home run.
 
Both the Demons and Bulldogs relief corps spun zeroes across the middle three innings before Northwestern State turned a leadoff hit by pitch by Spencer Goodwin into the spark for a two-run seventh inning.
 
Goodwin took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on an Underwood fly ball. Nick Heath delivered a game-tying RBI single off Casey Sullivan and went to third base on an errant Sullivan pickoff throw.
 
Cort Brinson then drove home the 115^th run of his career with a single to put the Demons ahead. After David Fry knocked NSU's third straight single, the Bulldogs turned to close Adam Atkins (5-0), who worked out of trouble in the seventh and tossed 2 2-3 scoreless innings to earn the win.
 
Brinson and Fry each had two hits for the Demons. Brinson's two hits moved him into fifth place in school history with 227.
 
The Demons return to action this weekend when they head to Thibodaux to face Nicholls in a three-game Southland Conference series. First pitch of the series is set for 6 p.m. Friday.
  NSU       002 000 200 – 4 10 0
LT            003 000 002 – 5 7 1
W – Adam Atkins (5-0). L – Austin Reich (2-1). 2B – NSU, David Fry, Cade Jones. LT, Raphael Gladu. HR – NSU, Bret Underwood (3). LT, Chandler Hall (5). Highlights: NSU, Underwood HR, 2 RBIs; Cort Brinson 2-4, RBI; David Fry 2-5. LT, Gladu 2-4, 2B, RBI; Hall HR, 2 RBIs; Chase Lunceford 2-3.
Records: Northwestern State 27-21; Louisiana Tech 33-14.