NATCHITOCHES – It sounds simple, but there is an easy way to figure out if Northwestern State infielder David Fry is going well at the plate.
 
"David's all about staying in good counts," first-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "That's his whole game. He's been a great hitter since he stepped on campus. When he gets himself in trouble, it's by chasing pitches and getting himself in bad counts."
 
It sounds simple enough, but across the past eight games, Fry has put himself in a number of good counts, raising his batting average 76 points in that time while cracking five of his team-best seven home runs on the season.
 
Fry will try to keep that hot streak going when the Demons (6-16) open a two-game, mid-week series Tuesday against Southland Conference foe Lamar (15-10). Both games are set for 6 p.m. first pitches and neither game will count toward the conference standings.
 
Fry connected on his sixth home run of the season in the Cardinals' 12-6 victory against the Demons on March 22. The two-run home run in the first inning was Fry's fourth in five games and part of his first three-hit game of the season.
 
"When David's in a good count and can put a good swing on them, he doesn't miss many," Barbier said. "It's been good to see him having success the past couple of weeks. We knew this is what he was capable of, even when he had the slow start to the season. Hopefully, we can jump on his back and let him carry us some."
 
Backed by a four-RBI performance against Lamar in that March 22 meeting, Fry has knocked in seven runs in the past four games. It is little surprise that with Fry as the fulcrum, the Demons have scored 22 runs in the past four games, an average of 5.5 runs per game, nearly a run higher than NSU's average for the season (4.7 runs per game).
 
Included in that run was Northwestern State's highest single-inning output of the season – a seven-run third inning Sunday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The highlight of that inning came from Hunter Uzzle, whose grand slam marked the first home run of his Demons career.
 
"Hunter got in a good count, a 3-1 count with the bases loaded," Barbier said. "It's like we talked about with Dave, that's half the battle – getting in a good count and getting a pitch to hit. Hunter gives a good at-bat every time he goes up. His average isn't great because he's had some tough luck with lineouts and hard-hit balls. He gives us a good competitive at-bat every time up, and if we can do that up and down the lineup, we'll be in good shape this week and this weekend (against Central Arkansas)."
 
While the Demons snapped a six-game skid with a win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday, the Cardinals have recovered from a tough start to Southland Conference play to extend their winning streak to five games.
 
Behind Southland Conference Hitter of the Week Chad Fleischman, the Cardinals swept Incarnate Word in a three-game weekend series.
 
The two-game series with Lamar begins a five-game homestand for the Demons, who plan to start right-hander Tim Winders (0-2, 8.31) on Tuesday and Austin Reich (0-1, 67.50) in Wednesday's game.
 
Streaming audio from both games will be available on www.NSUDemons.com.
  Tuesday: Lamar RHP Brett Brown (0-0, 2.87) at Northwestern State RHP Tim Winders (0-2, 8.31)
Wednesday: Lamar TBA at Northwestern State RHP Austin Reich (0-1, 67.50)