HAMMOND – Unique situations are nothing new for the 2021 Northwestern State baseball team.
 
So why should the runup to the Southland Conference Tournament have been anything different?
 
The sixth-seeded Demons open tournament play Wednesday night at 7 against host Southeastern Louisiana at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field, marking the first time in eight days for Northwestern State to take the field. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on 95.9 FM and the Demon Sports Network. Free streaming audio is available on www.NSUDemons.com and through the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded free for Apple and Android devices.
 
The Demons have not played since scoring a 7-3 win at LSU on March 18. Field conditions kept the Demons (27-24) from playing any of their final weekend series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, giving them an extra few days off ahead of their third straight Southland Conference Tournament appearance.
 
"Me and (Islanders) coach (Scott) Malone definitely wanted to play," fifth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "The field was not safe after so many days of rain in a row. It happens. It is what you make of it. You can call it rest, you can call it rust, but it's about Cal Carver going out and executing pitches and us having good at-bats. That's what matters whether you've played eight days in a row or had eight days off."
 
Carver (6-5) will get the call to start the tournament opener after being named a third-team all-conference pitcher Monday. He will face a third-seeded Southeastern Louisiana (30-22) team that is the first team to host an SLC baseball tournament since 2014. SLU will counter with right-hander Will Warren (7-2).
 
The Lions posted a 19-7 mark at their home field in 2021 and are one of the three tournament teams the Demons did not see in the regular season. The other two are Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 2 seed New Orleans, which also occupies a spot in the all-Louisiana side of the bracket.
 
"It's a team we're familiar with even if we haven't faced them," Barbier said. "With the video that's available now, I'd probably seen them play four or five times before we started scouting them. As a player, this is what you play for. This is what should get you up in the morning. It's tournament time. You get the host at their field in the night game. When you grow up playing baseball, you're in tournaments a lot. That setting becomes familiar to you. Unfortunately, we only get one at the end of the year, and we have to win that one to move on. It should be a lot of fun."
 
The Demons' past two trips to the conference tournament – the COVID-19 pandemic erased the 2020 event – have been at both ends of the result spectrum.
 
Northwestern State swept four games in 2018 to earn its first tournament crown in program history. A year later, the Demons dropped two tight games to McNeese and Southeastern Louisiana in succession.
 
"Our senior class, we have some guys who were part of that regional team that can lead these guys into this tournament," said senior outfielder Lenni Kunert, who earned all-tournament team honors at the 2018 Corvallis Regional. "We'll be ready to go. The young guys can step up and learn from this."
 
In that four-game run to the title in 2018, Northwestern State scored the winning run in the seventh-inning or later in all four games, winning a pair of one-run games and a two-run decision in the title game.
 
If those type of situations present themselves again this week, the Demons should be as tested as anyone in the field. NSU was 13-7 in one-run games this season, winning its final eight such games.
 
"Do you have confidence that allows you to win those games, or do you win those games and gain confidence?" Barbier asked. "Whatever way it is, I'm glad we have it. You get very comfortable playing those type of games. Would we have liked to extend some of those leads? No doubt. It's better on the heart that way, but you get comfortable being in tight games and believe you can win. What wins in baseball wins in tournament baseball. The pitching staff is a big deal, but the team that stays with it and doesn't panic usually does well. Teams that fight to the end when it seems bleak early in the game win a lot of tournaments. We've shown to be that team who will fight you to the end."
 
For a team that fought to win nearly half of its games by the slimmest of margins, an eight-day break may not be the worst thing that could happen, especially for a pitching staff that logged more innings than ever during the four-game weekend series.
 
"Having everyone well-rested going into the tournament is big," Carver said. "We were still able to get our work in before we take off (for Hammond). I wish we could have played this weekend, but we couldn't because of the weather. We've done what we can do to stay ready.
 
"You've got some guys who are going to be playing their last baseball game ever. If that doesn't make you want to give everything you've got, I don't know what will."