Demon Baseball | 3/1/2018 3:05:00 PM
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – The reunion tour continues for the Northwestern State baseball team.
Two days after scoring a 6-4, 10-inning win against former head coach Lane Burroughs and Louisiana Tech, the Demons open a three-game series against former NSU pitching coach Chris Curry's Little Rock Trojans at 3 p.m. Friday at Gary Hogan Field.
The series, which also includes a 2 p.m. Saturday matchup and a 1 p.m. Sunday series finale, will be the first three of four meetings between the Demons (5-3) and Trojans (5-4), who met a season ago after an 11-year absence in the rivalry.
The teams will play a single midweek game April 18 in Natchitoches.
"We'll play three games up there, and then they're three games here next year," said second-year head coach
Bobby Barbier, who replaced Curry on Burroughs' staff when Curry became the Trojans' head coach prior to the 2015 season.
"Getting midweek games are tough, so we decided to switch out on the midweek, go the opposite way. Scheduling's not easy, but this worked out nicely. It's the same thing with Lamar. These are good teams we need to be playing. Chris was more than willing to do a straight trade, and, for a Sun Belt (Conference) team to come to us for three games, we're very grateful."
The Demons notched their first midweek win of the season Wednesday night, outlasting Louisiana Tech, 6-4, in 10 innings. That result was quite a change from NSU's first midweek outing, an 11-6 loss at ULM on Feb. 20.
The team-wide growth that allowed Northwestern State to overcome surrendering a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday was visible in the series finale against Penn this past Saturday.
Freshman right-hander
Robert Burke took a step forward after a rough collegiate debut in the finale of the season-opening series against Binghamton.
After lasting just 2 1-3 innings against the Bearcats, Burke worked 4 2-3 shutout innings in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader before allowing the only run he surrendered in a no decision.
Burke will remain in the No. 3 spot in the rotation against the Trojans, following right-hander
Nathan Jones (1-0, 1.42) and left-hander
Ridge Heisler (2-0, 0.00). Little Rock has not named its rotation for the series.
"I'm very proud of Robert," Barbier said. "I'm proud of the fifth inning when they got three hits and scored a run. We tell our guys, if they get three hits in a row, congratulations to them, let's get the next guy out.
"Robert had good stuff, and he held it longer than he did in his first outing. We can build on that. Like a lot of young pitchers, his pitch count gets way up. We have to find a way to limit that and pitch to contact early in the count. It was good to see him get better. Will we have setbacks? Probably so, but the important thing will be keeping a good attitude through those."
