JONESBORO, Ark. – Northeast Arkansas has been good to the Northwestern State baseball team's offense.
 
The majority of the state has been very good to Demons reliever Devin Bear.
 
Two weeks after picking up his first career victory in the Natural State, Bear earned his first save as a Demon, pitching out of an eighth-inning jam and tossing a perfect ninth to close out a 6-3 Northwestern State victory against Arkansas State on Saturday night.
 
"I have more trust in my stuff," said Bear, who earned the victory in the series finale at Central Arkansas on April 24. "I'm throwing more strikes. This year, the coaching staff's had a lot of confidence to put me in some big situations and get some big outs."
 
After the Demons (27-18) built a 6-0 lead through the top of the sixth, Arkansas State (20-25) jumped back in the game with a two-run Matt Burgess home run to cut the NSU lead to 6-2.
 
Burgess came to the plate again in the eighth inning and singled home a run before Bear induced a foul out and a double play to end the inning. The Demons left-hander then worked a perfect ninth inning to secure NSU's eighth straight victory.
 
"Devin has accepted his role," fourth-year coach Lane Burroughs said. "He's got a great arm. It's been a matter of Devin corralling his stuff and throwing strikes. Now, he's putting the ball in the zone, and he's hard to hit. He has a great arm, and he spins it well."
 
The Demons tied a season high with 16 hits, tagging Arkansas State starter Coulton Lee (5-5) for 11 hits and five runs (all earned) in 5 1-3 innings.
 
Cort Brinson started the scoring with a third-inning sacrifice fly before the Demons used a Bret Underwood two-out RBI single and a two-run Nick Heath single to extend the lead in the fourth inning.
 
The early offense came in support of a sharp Chase Hymel (4-5), who delivered his second straight scoreless start.
 
Working on a pitch count, Hymel tossed five shutout innings, scattering four hits and striking out four. Hymel danced around three first-inning singles to hang a zero before settling in.
 
The left-hander retired the final nine batters he faced, striking out three in that stretch.
 
"I wasn't going to be out there for all nine, so I emptied the tank," said Hymel, who needed 25 pitches to get through the first inning. "I found out the harder I throw it, I have better control. I wanted to blow it out, attack the zone and leave it all out there."
 
Six Demons recorded multi-hit games, led by three-hit nights from Matt Valdez and Kelsey Richard, who both tied career highs in that category.
 
The 16 hits tied the season high accomplished twice before. The Demons' aggressive ways cost them on the bases, but the sheer volume of the scoring opportunities and strong pitching allowed NSU to overcome those miscues.
 
"We're swinging the bats well," Burroughs said. "I told our guys I'm proud of the way they're playing. They're playing loose. There's a fine line between playing loose and playing reckless. We ran ourselves out of two or three innings. We left a few runs out there. They're playing aggressive, and I like that, but there's a fine line between reckless and aggressive."
 
The series concludes with a 1 p.m. matinee. Northwestern State will send junior right-hander Evan Tidwell (4-2, 3.39) to the mound against Arkansas State right-hander Peyton Culbertson (3-0, 3.81).
  NSU       001 302 000 – 6 16 3
ASU       000 002 010 – 3 7 1
W – Chase Hymel (4-5). L – Coulton Lee (5-5). S – Devin Bear (1). 2B – NSU, Bret Underwood; Cort Brinson; Kelsey Richard; Matt Valdez. HR – ASU, Matt Burgess (5). Highlights: NSU, Underwood 2-5, 2B, 2 RBIs; Nick Heath 2-5, 2 RBIs; Daniel Garner 2-5; Richard 3-4, 2B; Valdez 3-4, 2B. ASU, Tim Seldomridge 2-5; Matt Burgess 2-4, HR, 3 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 27-18; Arkansas State 20-25.