HOUSTON – For the first four weeks of the season Northwestern State has faced multiple opponents during the weekend. For the first time this year they will see just one opponent and have the chance to experience a format like the coming conference schedule.

The Lady Demons (12-8) travel to Houston (9-11) for a three-game series that begins on Friday and runs through Sunday. Start times are set for 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and a noon first pitch on Sunday.

The games can be seen with subscription on ESPN+ with live stat links also available at www.nsudemons.com.

NSU split the four games it played this past weekend with a win and a loss each against Fordham and UTSA. Each win came behind dominant performances in the circle and each loss a result of missed chances at the plate in low scoring affairs.

"There were some good things that we did and obviously some things we have to do better," head coach Donald Pickett said. "The big thing for us is that we play pretty well and then we have a letdown inning here or there and some games got away from us. We have to sure those things up and hopefully this weekend against another quality opponent we can play solid enough to have a chance to win games."

The offense has continued to see more and more bright spots to accompany the outstanding pitching. Kat Marshall hit a pair of home runs in the win against Grambling and Keely DuBois enters the weekend with a seven-game hitting streak and three multi-hit games from this past weekend.

She is the third hitter to collect eight or more hits over the course of a weekend this season, joining Bailie Ragsdale from the trip to Chattanooga and Laney Roos at the Mardi Gras Mambo.

Any offense at all is a complement the NSU pitching staff that continues to produce at a high level and remains at the top of the Southland Conference in ERA, earned runs allowed and opponent's batting average.

They have pitched 10 games this season with 10 or more strikeouts, equal to the number from the past four seasons combined. NSU pitchers have struck out 174 batters in 20 games, and 8.7 per game average, and 44 more than the next closest team in the conference.

"They've done a great job of attacking the strike zone, but it seems like we either strike someone out of give up a hit at times," Pickett said. "They're really talented and in the last three or four years in recruiting we've been trying to bring better pitching in here.

"They're very confident and doing the things that we know they can do and giving us a lot of chances to win games. But we've got to remember that we're still young there and really across the board as a team. So there are going to be times where we'll have to work through some growing pains."

As the Lady Demons work to build more consistency in all phases of the game, the weekend series with Houston provides the first chance for the team to learn an opponent within a weekend, like they will have to do during the six Southland weekends.

"It's like conference play where we have to adjust to what other teams are doing over a three-game span," Pickett said. "Whoever is able to do that and take advantage of it early is going to be in the best position to win.

"From the start you have to come ready to play and adjust off of that and hopefully by game three you've learned a lot from games one and two. It's going to be a good thing to see how well we handle all the back-and-forth and how it plays out over a three-game span to try and win a series."