HAMMOND – The Northwestern State baseball team appeared ready to land an early knockout blow to Southeastern Louisiana right-hander Mason Knopp on Saturday afternoon.
 
Once the Demons scored a second-inning run, however, Knopp settled in and handcuffed Northwestern State the rest of the way, allowing the Lions offense to erupt late in an 8-1 Southeastern Louisiana victory at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
 
"We got him to 43 pitches after two innings, and we just don't deliver a blow," third-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "We let him breeze through without much fight at all. We've got to be tougher. Playing on the road is something different for us. This team last year played great on the road. We've got to be tougher on the road and tougher when things don't go our way."
 
While Knopp scuffled through the first two innings, Northwestern State right-hander Nathan Jones (4-2) was untouchable for the first three innings and virtually so for the first five innings.
 
Through five innings, Jones shut out Southeastern Louisiana (18-17, 10-4) on two hits without a walk. After going to only one three-ball count through the first 5 1-3 innings, Jones issued at least three balls to three straight Lions hitters in the sixth.
 
Jones struck out Bryce Steckler on a full-count pitch for the second out of the sixth but issued consecutive two-out walks to Cody Grosse and Preston Faulkner. Kyle Schimpf's two-run double on a 1-0 pitch gave the Lions their first lead of the game, erasing NSU's 1-0 advantage.
 
"You've got a guy on the mound doing everything he can to win the game," Barbier said. "We've got to back him up. We've got to have guys come out of the bullpen and do the same thing. When you're not scoring, you have to be so perfect. It's 1-0, and he's cruising and (Cody Grosse) has a great at-bat, an eight-, nine-pitch at-bat to walk. He lost it for a minute, and their best hitter comes up and hits one down the line. It's a matter of us executing and being a little tougher."
 
The Lions took the lead after the Demons (19-14, 9-8) could not score following Lenni Kunert's leadoff double. Knopp (4-1), who struck out a career-high 13 batters, retired the next three Demons via strikeouts to erase the threat.
 
Jones worked six-plus innings, allowing three hits, three runs (all earned) and three walks while striking out eight. He moved into sixth place on Northwestern State's all-time strikeout list with 192 and into seventh on NSU's all-time innings pitched list with 272.
 
Knopp, meanwhile, allowed four hits and one run in seven innings before turning the ball over to Trey Shaffer following the Lions' six-run seventh inning in which Murphy's Law took hold of the Demons.
 
Trailing by one entering the seventh, Tyler Smith led off with a single off Knopp, putting the tying run on base. For the second straight inning, the Demons were unable to move the runner over as Knopp retired the next three hitters.
 
Smith had Northwestern State's lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 after starting the Demons' run-scoring second inning with a one-out single. Sam Taylor followed with an RBI double to account for NSU's lone run.
 
Southeastern Louisiana scored six runs in the seventh, including a Faulkner grand slam, taking advantage of a ball lost in the sun and the Demons' lone error of the first two games of the series.
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Cullen McDonald (3-0, 2.27) takes the mound for Northwestern State against Southeastern Louisiana right-hander Will Warren (2-3, 7.04).
 
Southeastern Louisiana 8, Northwestern State 1
NSU       010 000 000 – 1 5 1
SLU        000 002 60x – 8 8 0
W – Mason Knopp (4-1). L – Nathan Jones (4-2). 2B – NSU, Lenni Kunert, Sam Taylor. SLU, Kyle Schimpf, Nathan Pilutti. HR – SLU, Preston Faulkner (6). Highlights: NSU, Tyler Smith 2-3. SLU, Faulkner GS, 4 RBIs; Schmpf 2B, 2 RBIs; Pilutti 2-4, 2B.
Records: Northwestern State 19-14, 9-8; Southeastern Louisiana 18-17, 10-4.