Demon Baseball | 5/16/2018 3:26:00 PM

NEW ORLEANS – Just as much as things have changed for the Northwestern State baseball team this season, the Demons' opponent in their final weekend series of the 2018 season has undergone a paradigm shift as well.
 
Northwestern State (31-21, 16-11) starts its final Southland Conference series of the season at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, facing New Orleans (25-28, 13-14) in a matchup that sits in stark contrast to when the teams met a year ago in Natchitoches.
 
Prior to that matchup, the Demons had been eliminated from Southland Conference Tournament contention. Entering this weekend, Northwestern State has won three consecutive conference series, going 7-2 in that span to clinch a spot in next week's conference tournament in Sugar Land, Texas.
 
After qualifying for the SLC Tournament in coach Blake Dean's first two seasons, the Privateers enter this weekend tied for seventh place with Incarnate Word with each holding a two-game lead for the final two spots in the tournament field. The Privateers, who swept Nicholls this past weekend, have used a different recipe for success in Dean's third season.
 
"They've done a great job down there, but they do it a little differently down there this year," second-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "They've got two of the better pitchers in the league who throw on Fridays and Saturdays. It's a different UNO team than we've had. It shows you what good teams do. Good teams find ways to win games in different ways."
 
The Demons, across their past 10 games, have fallen into that category.
 
NSU took two of three games at Incarnate Word from May 4-6 by scoring a combined 25 runs during the weekend. A week later, the Demons limited Abilene Christian to two runs in three games, including a complete-game shutout by Louisiana Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week Jerry Maddox in the middle game of the series.  
 
The Demons' strong pitching performance against ACU punched Northwestern State's ticket to the SLC Tournament, a feat New Orleans will try to match this weekend.
 
While the Demons lead the league in team ERA (3.33) and Maddox holds the league's lowest individual mark (2.17), the Privateers have a pair of pitchers ranked second and third in ERA – John Barr (2.20, 2^nd) and Bryan Warzek (2.81, 3^rd). Warzek also leads the conference in strikeouts with 110 while Maddox paces the Southland in opponents' batting average (.191).
 
Maddox and Warzek are scheduled to face one another in Friday's middle game of the series. That game is set for 6:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. Saturday finale wrapping up the series. All three games of the series can be heard on 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and on www.NSUDemons.com.
 
For the Demons, positioning within the Southland Conference Tournament is at stake this weekend. NSU enters the final three games of the season in fourth place in the league, one game behind Central Arkansas for third place and one game ahead of both Houston Baptist and McNeese for fifth.
 
UNO and Incarnate Word are three games behind the Demons in the league standings. With one win this weekend, NSU will be guaranteed no worse than the No. 6 seed when the league tournament begins May 23 at Constellation Field.
 
The Demons' focus, however, remains on their final three regular-season games.
 
"I expect a really competitive three games against (UNO) and, hopefully, we can come out and match the intensity they are going to have with them trying to get into the tournament," he said.
 
Series probables:
Thursday: Northwestern State LHP Ridge Heisler (5-2, 3.05) at New Orleans RHP Brayson Smith (2-3, 4.19)
Friday: Northwestern State RHP Jerry Maddox (6-3, 2.17) at New Orleans LHP Bryan Warzek (3-2, 2.81)
Saturday: Northwestern State RHP Nathan Jones (4-5, 3.44) at New Orleans TBA