NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State baseball team had its sixth chance of the 2018 season to sweep an opponent Tuesday night.
 
For the sixth time, the Demons suffered the same fate.
 
Five Lamar pitchers limited Northwestern State to seven hits and the Cardinals got a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to lift them to a 3-2 victory in the finale of a three-game season series.
 
"You've got to learn how to win games different ways," second-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "Just because you've had four, five, six, however many good starts in a row, doesn't mean you can't win the game a different way. We got a bad start, and we didn't do anything to stop it."
 
The Demons (19-16) scored 22 runs against the Cardinals (11-26) in posting wins in Beaumont, Texas, on March 27 and April 10, including a 15-3 win a week ago in which Northwestern State pounded out a season-high 16 hits.
 
This time, the Demons mustered little offense against the streaking Cardinals, who won their season-high fourth straight game.
 
After Kwan Adkins led off the game with a single to right, Lamar starter Garrett Walker finished his four-inning stint by not allowing another hit.
 
Marcus Olivarez relieved Walker in the fifth and issued a four-pitch walk to Peyton Davis before inducing a double-play. Caleb Ricca's two-out single off Olivarez ended the Demons' hitless drought at 16 batters.
 
By that time, the Cardinals had capitalized on Demons starter Robert Burke's bout of wildness.
 
Burke walked four batters in 1 1-3 innings, including three in a four-batter span in the second inning. Lamar took advantage as Avery George connected on an RBI single and Philip Ingram added a run-scoring fielder's choice.
 
The Demons, who managed just seven singles, broke through against AbeRee Hiebert in the sixth inning taking advantage of a run-scoring throwing error by Cole Coker and a two-out RBI single by Tyler Smith to tie the game.
 
"Offensively, we did nothing to pressure them," Barbier said. "We played really poorly, very uncharacteristic of how we normally play. Low energy made for a tough night for us."
 
The NSU bullpen picked up Burke as Tyler Pigott (4 2-3 innings), Donovan Ohnoutka (one inning) and Danny Hlad (one inning) kept the Cardinals scoreless through the eighth inning.
 
After the Demons stranded David Fry at second base following his leadoff single in the eighth, the Cardinals took advantage of their ninth-inning opportunity.
 
Chad McKinney led off with a double against Hlad (3-2) and Ingram followed with a single before Cole Girouard lofted a sacrifice fly to left field to score McKinney with the winning run.
 
Northwestern State put two runners on in the ninth inning before Taylor Rich secured the save with a strikeout, making a winner of Jace Campbell (1-6).
 
"Those were the same pitchers we scored 15 runs against last week," Barbier said. "They pitched well, give them credit. They executed, but we've got to do something to make them change what they're doing, put some pressure on them. We didn't do a very good job of that tonight."
 
Lamar 3, Northwestern State 2
Lamar    020 000 001 – 3 9 1
NSU       000 002 000 – 2 7 0
W – Jace Campbell (1-6). L – Danny Hlad (3-2). S – Taylor Rich (1). 2B – LU, Chad McKinney. Highlights: LU, Cole Girouard 2-4, RBI; Robin Adames 2-5; McKinney 1-1, 2B. NSU, Sam Taylor 2-4.
Records: Lamar 11-26; Northwestern State 19-16.