NEW ORLEANS – All the momentum the Northwestern State baseball team needed Saturday wore No. 46.
 
Sophomore right-hander Johnathan Harmon spun a four-hit, complete-game gem, and Jake Haze delivered a clutch tie-breaking, seventh-inning single to lift the Demons to a 2-1 Southland Conference victory at New Orleans at Maestri Field.
 
"What a response by Johnny and our team," sixth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "We lose a heartbreaker in the first conference game on Friday night. That can linger if you let it. Johnny didn't let it linger. He was good from the first pitch to the last pitch there in the ninth inning. It was good to see him get stronger as the game went on. We needed someone like that today."
 
Harmon (3-2) pitched with a lead for most of the game after the Demons (11-12, 1-1) scratched out a first-inning run on Bo Willis' RBI fielder's choice.
 
A 6-foot-5 product of Leesville High School, Harmon retired the first eight UNO hitters he faced and 12 of the first 13.
 
The Privateers (13-8, 1-1), who rapped out 14 hits Friday night, had only one inning with more than one hit, putting together a pair of singles – one an infield hit – in the sixth inning when UNO tied the game.
 
Harmon, who struck out five while tying a career high by throwing 105 pitches, got some help from his defense to keep it tied at 1 as Miguel Vega threw out Anthony Herron Jr. at the plate trying to score from second on Jeissy De La Cruz' infield single to third base.
 
"Miggy had the same play Friday – dirt ball with a runner at second that we let get by us," Barbier said. "He tried to pick it and let it get by him, but it was good to see him learn from it. He kept his head about him to throw the ball home."
 
Haze, who built a reputation for timely hits as a freshman in 2021, came up with another in the seventh, driving in Cam Sibley, who singled with two outs and stole second base to set up Haze's go-ahead RBI single to right-center field.
 
Both Sibley and Haze recorded their first multi-hit games of the season, going 2-for-3.
 
"They were treating me soft away all game," Haze said. "I was looking for something over the plate and got it. I put a good swing on it. I didn't even realize what type of situation it was. I was just trying to have fun."
 
Harmon kept the Privateers' offense from having any kind of fun, tossing Northwestern State's first nine-inning complete game since Nathan Jones' effort at Stephen F. Austin on April 27, 2019.
 
With the wind blowing in from Lake Poncharatrain, Harmon took advantage, recording 14 flyball outs. In the midst of UNO's sixth-inning push, Haze gave Harmon an assist on Pearce Howard's foul ball.
 
Haze drifted toward the wall in foul territory, reaching over the fence to snare Howard's pop up to retire the dangerous fifth-year senior.
 
"I call him 'Clutch Jake' for a reason," Harmon said. "He can field it. He can hit it. He can do it all."
 
Harmon struck out five, saving them for key moments. His strikeout of Drake Angeron stranded two runners in scoring position in the fifth and kept the Demons' one-run lead intact.
 
He punctuated his first career complete game with a game-ending strikeout of Tyler Bischke to cap a ninth inning that included a highlight-reel stop by Daunte Stuart, who dove to his right and backhanded De La Cruz' hard grounder for the second out.
 
Following Friday's loss, Barbier emphasized the importance of playing clean defense, especially on the road. The Demons answered the challenge, taking it a step further Saturday.
 
"There's clean defense where you don't make any errors," Barbier said. "Then there's difference-making defense that helps you win the game. That's important to point out. It's a completely different situation if there's a guy on first with one out in the ninth. Bases cleared with two outs gives you a little more calm in the dugout."
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Right-hander Drayton Brown (2-2, 3.51) takes the ball for Northwestern State against UNO right-hander Collin Horton (2-0, 2.33).
 
Northwestern State 2, New Orleans 1
NSU       100 000 100 – 2 6 1
UNO      000 001 000 – 1 4 1
W – Johnathan Harmon (3-2). L – Brandon Mitchell (0-3). 2B – UNO, Drake Angeron. Highlights: NSU, Jake Haze 2-3, RBI; Cam Sibley 2-3.
Records: Northwestern State 11-12, 1-1; New Orleans 13-8, 1-1.