GRAMBLING – The Northwestern State baseball team has not spent much time on the road in the first month of the 2020 season.
 
That changes this week, beginning Tuesday at 6 p.m. when the Demons travel to Grambling for their third straight road mid-week game.
 
Although Northwestern State (11-4) began the season with 13 of 15 games at home, both of its mid-week games have been played away from Natchitoches and both have come against state opponents. NSU has split its first two mid-week matchups, winning 10-8 at UL Lafayette on Feb. 26 before falling 8-7 in 10 innings at Southern on March 3.
 
"I would think a lot of our players have played together, which adds a little something to those matchups," fourth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said of playing in-state opponents.
 
The Demons enter their first trip to Grambling since 2011 coming off a Southland Conference series win against Abilene Christian at Brown-Stroud Field. Tuesday's meeting marks the third straight season for the teams to meet, including a three-game series in Natchitoches in 2019.
 
The Tigers (6-9) took the first game of that series before the Demons swept a doubleheader. Grambling has dropped six of nine games since starting the season with a 3-0 mark in the Andre Dawson Classic in New Orleans, scoring wins against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, New Orleans and Southern.
 
"Those guys have done a good job over there," Barbier said.
 
Northwestern State averaged nearly six runs per game in taking two of three games from Abilene Christian. Peyton Davis led the Demons at the plate, going 7-for-12 with two doubles and a home run against the Wildcats.
 
Davis hit .500 (8-for-16) and had an OPS of 1.289 in a four-game week and has hit safely in five straight games, his longest streak of the season. Davis leads Northwestern State with three home runs and is tied for the team lead with 14 RBIs. Davis is one of four Demons with at least 10 RBIs, joining Lenni Kunert (14), Marshall Skinner (13) and Jeffrey Elkins (11).
 
NSU hit .250 as a team in the series against Abilene Christian, but Barbier praised his teams at-bats. As the season progresses, Barbier said he expects even more improvement from a Demon offense that averages 5.6 runs per game.
 
"At-bats are priceless as the season goes on," he said. "The ball starts to move a little slower and guys gain confidence. You also can't understate the work those players and coaches have put in. If they continue to work that way throughout the season, you will continue to see the improvement you are seeing."
 
The Demons will give junior right-hander Evan Daigle (0-0, 6.00) his first start of the season while Grambling has not announced a starting pitcher.