BATON ROUGE – The Northwestern State baseball team wraps up its road schedule Tuesday in what normally is a familiar place for the Demons.
 
The Demons face LSU in Alex Box Stadium at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of a nearly annual series with the Tigers. However, because of schedule rotations and the cancelation of most of the 2020 season, this year marks Northwestern State's first visit to Alex Box since May 2018. The game can be seen on SEC Network Plus and can be heard on 95.9 FM, the Northwestern State Athletics and www.NSUDemons.com.
 
Couple that time frame with the dearth of mid-week games for the Demons this season and it makes for a much different matchup for the Demons (26-24), who defeated the Tigers 3-1 in their most recent meeting on March 12, 2019.
 
"It's always fun to go play those guys," fifth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "It will be a bit of an awkward game since we haven't played them in a while, and then we have a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series (against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi). We'll have some guys who haven't had a lot of opportunities who will get some this week, which is good. It will show us who can help us with the tournament as we move forward. Hopefully, the rain stays away and we can get there and play well."
 
Facing LSU (32-19) for the first time in three years in Baton Rouge gives a handful of Demons a chance to play in their backyard. Similarly, it allows Northwestern State to expand its reach in its home state.
 
"We've got quite a few Baton Rouge kids," Barbier said. "It's always good to get down to that part of the state. We've done a good job recruiting down there and have had some players from there who have had good careers for us.
 
"It helps us expand our brand a little bit. We get to play an SEC school that's televised. Those south Louisiana kids who haven't seen us, especially during quarantine, get to see us and what we're all about."
 
One of the less-used arms Barbier mentioned – sophomore right-hander Ethan Francis (0-0, 6.75) – will make his first career start. Francis has worked 5 1-3 innings in his six appearances this season.
 
LSU, meanwhile, will counter with right-hander Will Hellmers (6-1, 3.34), who will make his ninth start in 2021.
 
For the Demons, their final mid-week game of the season will break a string of 28 straight Southland Conference games and will mark the first Power Five opponent of the season for Northwestern State, which has seen two of its six Division I non-conference opponents reach the Top 25 at some point this season, including Southern Miss, which is ranked No. 19 this week.
 
"They're (LSU) going to run out some good arms," Barbier said. "They always do. There's a reason they're good every year. They're making a run here at the end of the season, and it will be good to see a different type of opponent and to get in that atmosphere. We have a lot of Louisiana kids who will enjoy playing there."
 
Having faced Southern Miss on opening weekend in mid-February, the Demons will have bookended their schedule with its two most anticipated non-conference matchups.
 
"It's just different," Barbier said. "We played at Southern Miss, and they have a good atmosphere and a nice stadium in a bigger place. It's a good experience. We like to make our schedule that way. It gives our guys a different experience and presents a good challenge."