Demon Baseball | 5/7/2018 3:21:00 PM
NATCHITOCHES – The last time the Northwestern State baseball team played a mid-week game, it tied three school records and topped the 30-run mark.
While Grambling, Tuesday night's visitor to Brown-Stroud Field, shares a conference affiliation with the Demons' most recent mid-week foe, second-year head coach
Bobby Barbier warned of the dangers of making any comparisons based on that piece of information.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
"We better come out and be ready to play," Barbier said. "It will be a different team. That's why we preach the things we preach the way we preach them – the one day at a times. I'm worried about batting practice. How we're going to come out ready to play. If you can have that mentality the whole time, the other team doesn't matter that much.
"it matters how we play. This mid-week, next week's mid-week (at LSU), conference series – all of these games matter. To foster that mind-set, we'll be a much better team for it."
Both the Demons (27-20) and Tigers (23-22) have surpassed their win totals from the 2017 season. While Northwestern State comes in having taken two of three games from Incarnate Word this past weekend in San Antonio, Grambling dropped two of three games to Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division champion Texas Southern.
Still, the Tigers bring one of the top offenses in the SWAC to Brown-Stroud Field.
Grambling ranks fourth in the SWAC in batting average (.294) and is third in home runs (34). Reigning SWAC Player of the Year Marshawn Taylor, who also was the league's Newcomer of the Year in 2017, leads the conference in hitting and ranks 11
th nationally in batting average at .403.
In addition to sharing the distinction of outpacing its 2017 record with NSU, Grambling has taken a Southeastern Conference team to the wire in mid-week action. The Tigers held a ninth-inning lead before falling to then-No. 2 Arkansas, 7-6, on April 10.
A month earlier, the Demons held a late lead at then-No. 9 Texas A&M before falling in 11 innings.
"They're a really good team," Barbier said. "They do a good job of recruiting and getting their guys to play a good, quality brand of baseball."
Northwestern State will try to carry momentum from its second SLC road series win of the season to Brown-Stroud Field, where it is 15-9 this season.
Pitching has carried the Demons through much of the season as NSU ranks 27
th nationally in ERA at 3.41, but it was the NSU offense that found its footing in the Alamo City.
"It was great to see us win games in different ways than we're used to winning them," Barbier said. "We scored quite a few runs this weekend. We had a good comeback in the first game where we had the lead, then we fell back behind before coming up with a few big hits to win it."
Kwan Adkins (.349) and
David Fry (.344) continue to lead the Demons' offense, but Northwestern State saw a much more balanced attack, especially in Sunday's finale at UIW.
Despite the top three hitters in the order going hitless, Northwestern State pounded out 11 hits in a 9-8 series-clinching victory. NSU got multi-hit games from its fourth (
Lenni Kunert), fifth (
J.P. Lagreco), sixth (
Caleb Ricca), seventh (
Peyton Davis) and ninth (
Chaney Dodge) hitters in the order.
That group scored eight of the nine runs and drove in six of NSU's runs.
"That's what you need," Barbier said. "In our game, it's hard to be the guy every single day. We've had some guys do it the majority of the season, so it's good to see some of those guys who are getting opportunities step up and really contribute for us.
"
Chaney Dodge did a great job, made a great play in the eighth that squashed a rally for them.
Peyton Davis came through with a few big knocks. It makes you proud as a coach to see guys who put in the work but don't necessarily get the same opportunities as other guys have success and step up and deliver."
Right-hander Anthony Hernandez (1-4, 8.00) will start for the Tigers while the Demons will start left-hander
Tyler Pigott (1-0, 5.03) in the teams' first meeting since 2016.
