NATCHITOCHES – Southeastern Louisiana had no answer for Ridge Heisler on Saturday.
 
The Northwestern State left-hander spun the Demons' first complete-game shutout in more than two years, tossing a two-hitter in a 2-0 win in the opener of a Southland Conference doubleheader at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
The Lions got a split behind seven shutout innings from right-hander Carlisle Koestler in the nightcap as they posted a 4-1 win.
 
"He's the story of the game," Barbier said of Heisler. "Twenty-eight first-pitch strikes in a nine-inning ball game where he went the distance. He kept his pitch count down to where he was able to finish the game. Just a fantastic outing by him. We made some nice plays behind him and got the big hit with Austin Townsend's homer."
 
Heisler (4-2) became the first Demon to toss a complete-game shutout since Adam Oller did so against Lamar on March 12, 2016. It also marked the first the the Lions (25-14, 12-5) had been shutout this season and was NSU's first complete-game, two-hitter since Evan Tidwell's March 3, 2015, shutout of ULM.
 
Heisler did not allow a hit until Drew Avans singled with one out in the sixth inning as Northwestern State (18-15, 7-7) won for the fourth time in five games.
 
"Anything hard into them, especially my cutter, was really getting in on their hands, and they didn't like it at all," said Heisler, who has thrown a complete game in three of his five Southland Conference starts. "We offset it with the change-up to where they didn't know what was coming."
 
Heisler needed to be at his best to offset a strong outing by Southeastern Louisiana right-hander Josh Green (5-2), who allowed just two runs in 5 2-3 innings.
 
The big hit for Northwestern State came from Austin Townsend, who delivered an opposite-field solo home run to the left-center field alley leading off the fifth inning. The Demons added another run in the sixth inning as Luke Watson led off with a double and scored on a wild pitch to double NSU's lead.
 
"I knew once we got the lead, I was on cruise control," Heisler said. "From there on out, I kept doing my thing, pounded the zone and I knew they wouldn't get many runs at all."
 
The nightcap was another pitchers where the visiting Lions came up with the key hits, which came in the first inning.
 
Cody Grosse led off the game with a triple off Demons right-hander Jerry Maddox (3-3) and Nathan Pilutti followed with an RBI single.
 
Those were the only two hits Maddox allowed in six innings, giving up two runs while striking out a career-high nine batters.
 
The problem for the Demons in the final game was Koestler (6-1), who wiggled out of trouble in the third and fourth innings and scattered five hits over seven scoreless frames.
 
"We got two good starts today," Barbier said. "Their guys were fantastic. Good job by Ridge. Good job by Jerry. You'd like to get both of those games when that happens, but it didn't work out like that."
 
After Trey Shaffer's two-run triple in the ninth doubled the Lions' lead, the Demons scratched out a run on a Caleb Ricca RBI single before Kwan Adkins' drive to the right-center field gap was run down by Shaffer to preserve the victory.
 
Adkins had four of NSU's 12 hits in the doubleheader, going 4-for-8 while Tyler Smith added a 2-for-3 performance in the nightcap. No Lions player had multiple hits in either game.
 
"We've got to do a better job of playing with the advantage," Barbier said. "We've had a couple of times this year where we've won the first two games of the series and dropped the third one or won the first game of a doubleheader and not really come out and competed well at the plate. We've got to figure out how to play with an edge, even when we're ahead. I know we'll come out and play hard tomorrow, but I want us to play better from ahead."
 
The series concludes Sunday with a 1 p.m. matinee. Right-hander Nathan Jones (1-3, 3.69) goes to the mound for Northwestern State against right-hander Kade Granier (2-2, 4.18) from SLU.
 
 
Northwestern State 2-1, Southeastern Louisiana 0-4
Game 1
SLU        000 000 000 – 0 2 0
NSU       000 011 00x – 2 4 2
W – Ridge Heisler (4-2). L – Josh Green (5-2). 2B – NSU, Luke Watson. HR – NSU, Austin Townsend (1). Highlights: NSU, Kwan Adkins 2-3.
Game 2
SLU        200 000 002 – 4 5 1
NSU       000 000 001 – 1 8 1
W – Carlisle Koestler (6-1). L – Jerry Maddox (3-3). 2B – NSU, J.P. Lagreco. 3B – SLU, Cody Grosse; Trey Shaffer. Highlights: SLU, Shaffer 3B, 2 RBIs; NSU, Kwan Adkins 2-5; Tyler Smith 2-3.
Records: Southeastern Louisiana 25-14, 12-5; Northwestern State 18-15, 7-7.