NATCHITOCHES – Put purple and gold in front of Jeffrey Elkins late in the game and good things tend to happen.
 
Elkins added to his sterling late-game resume Tuesday night, drilling a tie-breaking three-run home run in the eighth inning to lift the Demons to an 11-4 win against visiting LSU-Alexandria at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
"We had a good approach all day, but we had gotten away from it," said Elkins, who twice has driven in the winning run against LSU in his Demon career. "I talked with the coaches, and they said, 'Stick with what's been working on.' It worked."
 
Elkins' seventh home run of the season was the only hit of the eighth inning for the Demons (17-18), who nonetheless scored seven runs to reach double figures for the second straight game.
 
After the Generals, who played the game as an exhibition, tied the game with two runs in the seventh, the Demons exercised patience to extend their home win streak to six games.
 
Julien Kliebert, who kept the game tied with a sparkling catch to rob Daunte Stuart of a two-run single and end the seventh inning, retired Bo Willis to start the eighth inning and then was undone by a lack of control.
 
Kliebert hit Bryce Holmes with a 2-2 pitch before walking pinch hitter Broch Holmes. Kliebert fell behind Elkins 3-1 before the NSU left fielder turned on a fastball and connected on the 18^th home run of his Demon career.
 
"They played great," sixth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said of the Generals. "Every pitcher they had threw strikes and spun the breaking ball. We left the zone a little too much early, got a little antsy. It was big there in the eighth. Jeff gets the big hit, and you see everybody settle down. We've got to put that pressure on them earlier in the game."
 
Behind the longest effort of right-hander Ethan Francis' career, the Demons were in control for much of the night.
 
A junior right-hander, Francis tossed a career-long five innings, allowing two runs and striking out a career-high seven. Before Tuesday night, Francis had not pitched more than two innings as a Demon and had not struck out more than three.
 
Francis, a native of Miscouche, Prince Edward Island, Canada, surpassed both of those totals by the third inning when his strikeout of leadoff hitter Luke Benoit gave him five.
 
"Ethan Francis was really good, and we needed it," Barbier said. "He hadn't been out there for too, too long in his career. We needed a good one because we play again (Wednesday) and have a conference series this weekend."
 
Elkins' home run pulled him back into a tie for the team lead with Bo Willis, whose solo home run in the fourth inning answered a two-run LSUA top of the fourth and re-established NSU's two-run advantage that stood until the seventh.
 
Elkins (2-for-3, 3 RBIs) and Willis (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) each had a multi-hit, multi-RBI game as did Gray Rowlett, whose two-run double broke a scoreless tie in the third inning.
 
"We just started joking about it," Elkins said of a home-run rivalry with Willis. "Hopefully, we get to carry that on and keep having a competition all year."
 
The Demons return to action Wednesday when they travel to Ruston to face Louisiana Tech. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at J.C. Love Field.
 
Northwestern State 11, LSU-Alexandria 4
LSUA     000 200 200 – 4 4 1
NSU       003 100 07x – 11 8 0
W – Gus Collins (2-0). L – Julien Kliebert. 2B – NSU, Gray Rowlett, Bo Willis. HR – NSU, Bo Willis (7), Jeffrey Elkins (7). Highlights: NSU, Rowlett 2-3, 2B, 2 RBIs; Willis 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs; Elkins 2-3, HR, 3 RBIs.
Records: LSU-Alexandria 25-11, Northwestern State 17-18.