ARLINGTON, Texas – Big league dreams will become a bit of reality for the Northwestern State baseball team this weekend.
 
Because of expected wintry weather in Norman, Oklahoma, the doors to Globe Life Field – home of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers – have been opened to the Demons and Oklahoma for their three-game series, beginning at 12 p.m. Friday.
 
"I've personally never played or coached in a big-league ballpark," sixth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "It will be a lot of fun for the guys. We've got a lot of guys from Texas, so it probably means a little bit more to them. It's going to be an experience they can talk about for a long time. I'm glad it worked out.
 
"We were looking at temperatures below freezing until Sunday in Norman, so I'm glad those guys have a relationship with the Rangers and their ballpark to allow us to do this. It's a little shorter ride and a pretty nice park to go to this weekend."
 
Northwestern State (2-1) won the final two games of its opening-weekend series against Stephen F. Austin while the Sooners (3-1) defeated Auburn and Michigan in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field. Oklahoma added a mid-week win against Wichita State on Tuesday while the Demons saw their first mid-week game of the season against ULM postponed twice because of rain.
 
While the weather cost NSU a chance to play both Tuesday and Wednesday, it did allow the Demons a chance to be the first NSU team to compete in a professional arena since Dec. 7, 2013, when the NSU men's basketball team played Memphis at FedExForum, the home of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.
 
"I was too excited," second baseman Daunte Stuart said of learning the series had been moved to MLB's newest stadium. "Words can't really say how I felt. I always wanted to play on a big-league field. Why not do it at one of the best?"
 
While aware of playing in a big-league park for the first time, the Demons also say they understand the task at hand.
 
"At the end of the day, it's still a business trip," sixth-year senior left-handed pitcher Cameron Taylor said. "It's fun. It's cool. It's exciting. You're playing in a Major League Baseball stadium for the first time, but we have three games against a really good ballclub."
 
With the exception of a 14-4 loss to Arizona, the Sooners have not allowed more than two runs in a game, including a 3-0 shutout of Auburn on Opening Day.
 
Left-handed starters Jake Bennett and Chazz Martinez, who will open and close the series, did not allow an earned run against Auburn and Michigan at Globe Life Field.
 
"They're going to have guys who have better arms than we faced this past weekend," Barbier said. "The ball moves a little faster against Power Five teams. It's about executing, being competitive, staying in the game when things unravel. Sometimes you get in your mind a little bit and give them too much credit. We've had success in this area in the past because we're able to stay in the game. We didn't go in wide eyed. We've done a good job over the years of going and playing our game no matter who we're playing. We've gone in, been us and competed hard."
 
That formula has produced wins at least one win against a Power Five opponent in every year since 2015 – when Barbier returned to NSU as its pitching coach. The lone year that did not happen was 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the season before the Demons faced a Power Five opponent.
 
The Demons stayed in the present after dropping their season opener against SFA, battling back to win the next two games. NSU capped its season-opening series win with a last at-bat, 5-4 victory Sunday when Stuart doubled home Larson Fontenot in the bottom of the eighth to cap a back-and-forth battle.
 
While Barbier mentioned baseball "rewarding" teams that maintain the correct mind-set, Stuart credited the Demon culture for laying the groundwork for that success.
 
"The veterans do an amazing job of making sure the younger guys are mentally prepared, but overall as a team, especially our younger guys, our guys are mature for their age," he said. "They know what we have to do this season to be successful, and they know we have a really, really good chance of being successful this season."
 
Series Probables
Friday: NSU LHP Cal Carver (0-1, 9.82) vs. Oklahoma LHP Jake Bennett (1-0, 0.00)
Saturday: NSU RHP Johnathan Harmon (1-0, 1.80) vs. Oklahoma RHP David Sandlin (0-1, 12.46)
Sunday: NSU RHP Drayton Brown (0-0, 3.60) vs. Oklahoma LHP Chazz Martinez (0-0, 0.00)