NEW ORLEANS – The Northwestern State baseball team makes its first road trip in nearly three weeks to open Southland Conference play Friday.
 
It will do so in a place it hasn't seen in nearly four years.
 
The Demons (10-11) head to New Orleans for a 6:30 p.m. Friday first pitch at Maestri Field, starting conference play in a stadium they last visited May 19, 2018. Northwestern State and the Privateers split a doubleheader that day, springboarding NSU's run to the Southland Conference Tournament championship.
 
Instead of concluding conference play like in 2018, this group of Demons hopes to start Southland play with a positive trip to New Orleans.
 
"We'd like to think we've built our team to compete in conference or non-conference, home or road," sixth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "It does put a pep in your step when you make another column for things. We've got a different tournament format this year. We're all fighting for those top two spots to host the first round. Every weekend will be important during conference play."
 
NSU opens its 24-game conference schedule against a New Orleans (12-7) team that has scored series wins against Big 12 Conference opponents Kansas and Oklahoma in the non-conference season.
 
The Demons have a win against Oklahoma, defeating the Sooners 4-2 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 25. Those victories fit with the reputation the Southland Conference has built around the nation.
 
"We've played good baseball in the Southland Conference for a lot of years now," Barbier said. "Our teams go out and compete against anyone. We've built our reputation as a league pretty well. It continues to be that way even with a lot of things that are happening in college athletics right now."
 
While Barbier said his team is excited for the opening of Southland Conference play, the Demons are leaving behind Brown-Stroud Field for 11 of the next 14 games after posting a 7-2 mark on their season-long, nine-game homestand that ended with a 6-3 win against Grambling on Wednesday night.
 
Northwestern State scored 105 runs on the homestand, an average of 11.7 runs per game, and topped 10 runs in five of the nine games.
 
"It was good to be home and play in front of our fans and have some familiarity with the stadium," Barbier said. "But we're starting conference play. Everyone's excited to start a new season. We'll play a really good team. They're very talented from what we've seen. It will be a good test to compete hard against a really good team on the road."
 
This weekend's series provides a couple of different challenges for the Demons, who will send out their regular weekend rotation of Cal Carver (2-2, 3.71), Johnathan Harmon (2-2, 1.95) and Drayton Brown (2-2, 3.51).
 
Not only are they playing on the road for the first time in 18 days, they also will play on a natural infield surface for the first time since a March 7 game at UT Arlington.
 
"Natural surfaces are rare for us to play with turf everywhere," Barbier said. "It's a great ballpark. We'll get to go down to New Orleans, which is home for me. We've got a couple of guys who are from there as well. It will be a good weekend."