BATON ROUGE – The Northwestern State baseball team's final mid-week game of the 2017 season may well be its toughest one as well.
The Demons conclude their slate of 12 mid-week games with a Tuesday night visit to LSU, which is ranked between No. 5 and 10 in the three major national polls. First pitch is set for 6:30 at Alex Box Stadium, and the game can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL and
www.NSUDemons.com.
The Demons (20-30) are coming off their second straight series win and their first road series victory of the season after taking two of three games at Abilene Christian. Northwestern State will try to carry some of that momentum into a matchup with an LSU squad that has won eight of its past 10 games.
"There's no hiding they're the university, when you're growing up (in Louisiana), you hear about all the time," first-year head coach
Bobby Barbier said. "We have a lot of guys from Louisiana, and from other places, that will be excited to play there. We go to places like LSU or Texas A&M, and those guys have that feeling."
After dropping its first four mid-week games of the season, the Demons won six straight before falling 13-1 to Little Rock on May 9. A win against the Tigers (35-17) would give NSU a winning record in mid-week games for the season.
That nugget would be nice for Barbier, but he sees a benefit for his team as it faces its fourth Power Five conference opponent of the season. LSU is the first Southeastern Conference team the Demons have faced this season after taking on Big 12 opponents Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State for a combined eight games.
LSU also is the fourth ranked foe for the Demons this season, joining then-No. 16 UL Lafayette, then-No. 18 Oklahoma State and then-No. 23 McNeese. NSU is 1-6 against ranked teams this season.
"You go play in a big stadium against a really good baseball team – that's the important thing," Barbier said. "We've got to come out and play well and use that experience for the future. We've got a bunch of guys who are excited to go down there."
The Demons will give sophomore right-hander
Kyle Swanson (2-2, 5.20) his first start of the season and second of his career. He will oppose LSU right-hander Todd Peterson (2-1, 4.39).
Junior first baseman
David Fry continues to pace Northwestern State offensively, putting together a season that has included a first for the Demons program.
With his fifth-inning double Sunday at Abilene Christian, Fry reached the 20-double plateau. Combined with his ninth-inning home run Saturday, that made Fry the first Demon to have at least 20 doubles and 10 home runs in the same season.
Fry's 20 doubles are tied for fifth on NSU's single-season list and his 10 home runs and 117 total bases place him just outside the top 10 on those respective lists.
Fry, who is hitting .349, is fourth in NSU career history with 47 doubles, tied for seventh in hit by pitches (29) and eighth in total bases (280) while starting 154 consecutive games dating to his freshman season.
"Dave has matured," Barbier said. "He's what you want to see when you bring a guy in as a freshman. He hit around .250, then .270 and now he's matured into the player he can be. I don't think it stops this year. He can be better. We talk to Dave about strike-zone discipline, and he's shown that this year. It's hard to do that when you're the guy in the lineup expecting to get those runs home.
"He's knocking on the door of some records, and I look forward to seeing him break some of them."
