NATCHITOCHES – Both the LSU-Alexandria and Northwestern State baseball teams turned Wednesday night's game into a staff day for their pitching staffs.
 
In the end, the Demons' arms were more effective.
 
Combined with a few timely hits, the Demons continued their mid-week home success, doubling up the visiting Generals, 6-3, at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
"I thought we played well," third-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "We didn't make any errors. We walked three. We played really good defense. We swung the bats really well, and they ran out some really good arms. We were competitive at the plate. I'm proud to get the win and keep that momentum going into the weekend."
 
The Demons (21-14) improved to 5-0 in mid-week games at Brown-Stroud Field this year thanks to five right-handed pitchers who scattered seven hits against an LSUA team that entered the game hitting .326.
 
Jerry Maddox started the game, working one scoreless inning before giving way to Peyton Graham (1-0), who earned his first career win with three shutout innings.
 
Graham worked out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the second inning, allowing the Demons offense to take a 1-0 lead on Larson Fontenot's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second.
 
After Fontenot delivered the go-ahead run, the Demons never trailed, but the Generals made things interesting on a couple of occasions.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the fifth, LSUA scored its first run on a two-base sacrifice bunt off the bat of Ty Desormeaux as Eric Thomas never stopped when rounding second and beat the return throw home.
 
The Demons added single runs in the sixth inning on a Jeffrey Elkins RBI groundout and In the seventh on a run-scoring wild pitch before the Generals put the first real dent in the Demons' bullpen.
 
Kyle Swanson issued a leadoff walk to Kris Tamplet to start the eighth before Logan Constantine tripled into the right-field corner. Matt Muhleisen's RBI groundout pulled the Generals within one before Swanson escaped further damage.
 
"You're one guy away coming in and not having it away from panicking," Barbier said. "We didn't want to use too many, playing Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I was proud of the guys who touched the mound today."
 
Elkins was in the middle of the Demons' two-run answer in the eighth, doubling home Caleb Ricca before scoring on Austin Stegall's safety squeeze to re-establish Northwestern State's three-run advantage.
 
When Barbier turned the game over to Austin Reich, the three-run lead seemed much larger.
 
Reich struck out the first two hitters on six pitches, including a called third strike on a 95 mph fastball against Thomas. After a two-out single, Reich retired Desormeaux on a ground ball to secure his first save since April 22, 2016.
 
"I just wanted my defense to work and to be quick, because we have three more games in the next three days," said Reich, who threw 10 of his 11 pitches for strikes. "I wanted to get out there and get it over with and get home."
 
Elkins, Sam Taylor and Lenni Kunert each had two-hit games as the Demons strung together 11 hits while Ronnie McBride's 2-for-4 day atop the LSUA lineup led the Generals offense.
 
The Demons continue their four-game homestand with a three-game Southland Conference series against McNeese beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The series also includes a Friday 6:30 p.m. matchup and a 2 p.m. Saturday series finale.
 
Northwestern State 6, LSU-Alexandria 3
LSU        000 010 020 – 3 7 0
NSU       010 100 12x – 6 11 0
W – Peyton Graham (1-0). L – Austin Manuel. S – Austin Reich (1). 2B – LSUA, Ben Bayless. NSU, Sam Taylor, Jeffrey Elkins, Austin Stegall, Lenni Kunert. 3B – LSUA, Logan Constantine. Highlights: LSUA, Ronnie McBride 2-4. NSU, Taylor 2-4, 2B, RBI; Elkins 2-5, 2B, 2 RBIs; Kunert 2-4, 2B.
Records: LSU-Alexandria 27-17, Northwestern State 21-14.