THIBODAUX -- Flush it.
 
That's what Northwestern State coach Donald Pickett said about trying to overcome a sweep at home at the hands of Southeastern before a run-rule loss at No. 15 LSU.
 
The Lady Demons (24-16, 11-7 Southland Conference), who are still just one game back of the conference lead, will visit one of the four conference leaders in Nicholls (29-13, 12-6 SLC) in a weekend series.
 
Friday night's opener starts at 5 p.m. with a Saturday doubleheader at noon at Swanner Field.
 
"We've got to be hungry and determined these next 10 games," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "It's a new season, and we have to flush everything that's happened so far.
 
"How bad do we want to do it? How determined are we to make things happen? Now it's time to step up, and hopefully our team can bring that energy to Nicholls and have a good weekend."
 
What's happened so far is an NSU team that started 8-1 in SLC play before losing two of the next three series with both series losses coming at home (McNeese and Southeastern).
 
A young Lady Demon squad (eight of 10 starters are freshmen and sophomores) led the SLC race even until its final loss to SLU, when NSU fell from a tie for first place to a tie for fifth place.
 
NSU is near the bottom of a top-heavy log jam that features four teams tied for first -- Nicholls, McNeese, Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern -- at 12-6.
 
The Lady Demons are knotted with Central Arkansas (11-7 SLC), who hosts NSU in the final series of the regular season.
 
"Nicholls has been one of the most consistent teams in our conference for the past three years, so it will definitely be a challenge," Pickett said. "We've got to find that energy again -- that's been missing a little bit.
 
"It's going to be a tough series, and being on the road, we'll have to bring extra focus and fight."
 
Abilene Christian (10-8 SLC) is a game behind NSU in seventh place with Lamar (9-9 SLC) and Sam Houston State (9-9 SLC) battling for the eighth and final Southland Conference Tournament spot in the newly expanded tournament field.
 
With three series still left, ACU (two games out) and Lamar and SHSU (three games out) can't be counted out of the championship race, either.
 
Another postseason wrinkle starting this season is the bottom four seeds play single-elimination games with the winners of those contests playing the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively.
 
The top two seeds are just two wins away from the championship series.
 
Backtracking to this weekend, Nicholls trots out the conference's best pitching staff in terms of ERA (2.29), opposing batting average (.220) and strikeouts (242).
 
Megan Landry (16-7) leads the league in ERA (1.81) and wins with freshman Alexis LaBure (9-4, 2.66 ERA) being the second starter on the staff.
 
Northwestern State counters with an offensive lineup that's third in the SLC in runs scored (216) and slugging percentage (.431) among other top five categories.
 
The Lady Demons' best statistical hitter in freshman Cayla Jones returned Tuesday at LSU after missing six games with a concussion.
 
Jones leads NSU in batting average (.425), runs scored (31), RBIs (30) and home runs (eight) -- all ranking in the top 10 in the SLC.
 
"It was cool to be back out there," Jones said. "Of course you want to make the most of it and swing at everything, but the game plan is still the same -- wait for the good pitches and hit them.
 
"It felt like I was home again and something I needed to be doing. It killed me being in bed and hearing things about this team I care about and one I wanted to be on the field with. We've got to focus on execution, and every single game counts."
 
The Lady Demons are no slouches in the circle, either.
 
Senior Micaela Bouvier (12-7, 2.13 ERA leads the league in opposing batting average (.208) and ranks fourth in ERA.
 
Junior Mikayla Brown (9-5, 3.19 ERA) has been solid in SLC play, posting a 4-2 mark.
 
They'll face a Nicholls lineup featuring seven Colonels batting at least .300.