NATCHITOCHES – Two swings swung things for the Northwestern State baseball team Saturday afternoon and evening.
 
Neither of them, however, went the Demons way.
 
Incarnate Word's Wilson Ehrhardt lofted a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning in the opener of Saturday's Southland Conference doubleheader to lift the Cardinals to a 2-1 win before Jeffrey Elkins' bid for a walk-off home run in the night cap fell short as UIW held on for a 3-2 victory to cap the sweep.
 
"That's the way goes sometimes," fifth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "We have to do more early in the game. We got two runs and had no pressure for eight innings. You can't win the ballgame that way. We've got to do a better job offensively, put some hits together and create some offensive pressure."
 
The Demons (6-7, 1-2) appeared on their way to capturing the first two games of the series as Cal Carver no-hit UIW (5-3, 2-1) for 5 2-3 innings before a two-out Lee Thomas double.
 
Carver (2-1) fanned a career-high 10 batters in 6 2-3 innings and nearly made his lone run of support stand up. However, Ehrhardt ambushed the first pitch from Carver and turned it into a two-out, two-run home run that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the weekend.
 
That proved to be the difference as right-hander Isaiah Zavala (2-0) handcuffed the Demons across a seven-inning complete game, scattering three hits.
 
The only time the Demons strung together hits off Zavala came in the fourth inning when Tyler Smith doubled with two outs and Cole Horton followed with a single to drive in his first run of the season.
 
"(Carver) commanded the zone with multiple pitches," Barbier said. "He kind of lost command there in one inning. He competed hard and probably deserved a better fate than he got."
 
Carver, who entered the game allowing the fewest hits per nine innings in the Southland, scattered three hits across his 6 2-3 innings.
 
In the nightcap, the Demons appeared to put the tough-luck loss behind them immediately, striking for two runs in the first inning of right-hander Michael Garza.
 
Cameron Horton's RBI single scored his brother Cole Horton before Smith scored on a Marshall Skinner groundout for a 2-0 lead.
 
From there, Garza settled in and quieted the Demon offense.
 
After surrendering two first-inning singles to the Hortons and hitting Smith with a pitch, Garza permitted just three more hits in the next six innings while striking out 10.
 
Garza's ability to regain his composure allowed the Cardinals to chip away at the NSU lead, scoring single runs in the third, eighth and ninth innings.
 
Although the Demons limited UIW to four hits in the nightcap, free bases hurt the Demons.
 
NSU walked 10 batters – two intentionally – and threw three wild pitches, including one that set up the tying run in the eighth inning as Grant Smith flared a single to right off Reed Michel (0-1) to score Ryan Flores, who had walked and taken an extra base on a wild pitch from Ethan Francis.
 
A bases-loaded walk gave UIW the lead in the ninth before the Demons attempted to nab their second walk-off win of the season.
 
Pinch-hitter Lenni Kunert led off the ninth with a single and after Johnny Foral (1-0) fanned the next two Demons, Jeffrey Elkins drove a 1-2 pitch from Foral to the left-center field gap that center fielder Ridge Rogers caught with his back to the wall.
 
"This is learning for all of us," Barbier said. "It's so important that we have to respond. We have to be ready to play (Sunday). This is going to happen 40 times this year where we have to get up for a doubleheader or complete the second half of a doubleheader or play after completing a doubleheader. We need to do a good job of being ready to play (Sunday)."
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher for the matchup.