Box Score THIBODAUX – Playing their sixth straight game on the road, the Northwestern State baseball team found itself down early Friday night at Nicholls.
 
That early deficit, along with Colonels left-hander Tyler Theriot, proved too much for the Demons to overcome as Nicholls shut out Northwestern State, 6-0, at Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field in Southland Conference play.
 
"We couldn't make plays early in the first, and it got us behind," sixth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "When you're not playing well and you're struggling and you're down right away, you've got to be tough enough to come back. We just weren't. We couldn't string together innings. We swung the bats better than four hits and no runs, but it wasn't a great day to hit."
 
Nicholls' two-run first inning – both runs were unearned – gave Theriot (5-2) all the support he and right-hander Brandon Andrews needed.
 
A junior left-hander, Theriot spun eight shutout innings, scattering four hits while allowing only one runner to reach third base. Northwestern State (15-18, 5-6) put together only one inning with more than one hit.
 
That came in the third inning with the Demons down 2-0.
 
With two outs, Cameron Parikh flared a single to center and Gray Rowlett followed with a clean single up the middle before Theriot got Daunte Stuart to hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
 
"We've got to do a better job," Barbier said. "They played great. That's two days in a row, but it allows teams to play well when you don't put any pressure on them. That's what we've done for two straight days."
 
Demon starter Johnathan Harmon (4-4) gave NSU its second straight quality start, scattering six hits and allowing two earned runs across six innings while striking out four. Harmon fell victim to a pair of first-inning errors behind him. In between, Alec Paz' two-out RBI double to the left-center field gap put the Colonels up for good.
 
After escaping the third-inning threat, Theriot retired 11 of the next 12 Demon hitters he faced, broken only by Gabe Colaianni's leadoff single in the fifth. Following Bailyn Sorensen's one-out double in the sixth, Theriot sat down the final five Demons he faced before giving way to Andrews, who worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game.
 
"They made some really good plays," Barbier said. "Their shortstop (Parker Coddou) is playing his tail off. Whenever you've got the good thing going, it's easy to play free."
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Saturday. Right-hander Drayton Brown (3-3, 3.98) takes the mound for Northwestern State against a to-be-determined Nicholls starter.
 
Nicholls 6, Northwestern State 0
NSU       000 000 000 – 0 4 2
Nicholls               201 001 11x – 6 8 0
W – Tyler Theriot (5-2). L – Johnathan Harmon (4-4). 2B – NSU, Bailyn Sorensen. NICH, Alec Paz. Highlights: NICH, Edgar Alvarez 2-4, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 15-18, 5-6; Nicholls 19-13, 7-4.