NATCHITOCHES – The emotions of opening weekend have passed for first-year coach Bobby Barbier and his Northwestern State baseball team.
 
Four games, however, remain on the Demons' season-opening, seven-game homestand at Brown-Stroud Field. Three of those come against Arkansas State, starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The three-game set, which will feature local Girl Scouts selling cookies on Friday and Sunday, concludes with a Saturday 2 p.m. first pitch and a Sunday 1 p.m. matinee.
 
Free streaming audio of all three games will be available on www.NSUDemons.com.
 
The visiting Red Wolves are one of four Sun Belt Conference teams on Northwestern State's schedule, joining UL Lafayette, UL Monroe and Little Rock.
 
"It's either (the Sun Belt) or Big 12," Barbier said. "We play a bunch of Big 12 teams, too. It's just the way the schedule worked out. We try to put together a good schedule. It is tough. It's meant to prepare us, to expose some holes we have to work on. Those don't always get exposed when you play teams who aren't perceived to be better than you. When the ball moves a little faster on the diamond, it can expose some holes."
 
The Demons (2-1) and Red Wolves (4-2) have used different approaches to reach the same early-season winning percentage.
 
Northwestern State's series victory against Cincinnati was highlighted by strong pitching (1.61 ERA) and timely hitting.
 
Arkansas State's busy opening week, which included a four-game sweep of New York Institute of Technology, saw the Red Wolves averaged eight runs per game while pitching to a 5.12 team ERA.
 
The mound success led Barbier to keep the Demons' starting rotation the same this weekend. Sophomore Nathan Jones (0-0, 1.80) will take the ball Friday night while junior John Carter Sanner (0-0, 2.25) and senior Evan Tidwell (1-0, 1.59) round out the Demons' all-right-handed rotation for the second straight weekend.
 
Northwestern State enjoyed strong pitching throughout opening weekend with the bullpen allowing just two runs in 13 2-3 innings.
 
The Demons staff will be tested by the Red Wolves offense, which is led by Justin Felix, who is hitting .474 with a home run and 13 RBIs.
 
"They did a good job," Barbier said of his pitching staff. "We always talk about the work. The work in the bullpen is just as important as the game. We talk about the quality of the pitch and not always the result.
 
"We had some good results over the weekend. We made some quality pitches. We had some new guys touch the mound for the first time, and they got on there with some intent and some purpose. None of them had that deer in the headlights look. It says a lot about them and the preparation and (pitching) coach (Chris) Bertrand's work to get them ready for that moment."
  Friday: Arkansas State RHP Bryan Ayers (1-0, 0.00) at Northwestern State RHP Nathan Jones (0-0, 1.8)
Saturday: Arkansas State RHP Peyton Culbertson (1-0, 3.00) at Northwestern State RHP John Carter Sanner (0-0, 2.25)
Sunday: Arkansas State LHP Collin Cahill (0-0, 4.91) at Northwestern State RHP Evan Tidwell (1-0, 1.59)