NATCHITOCHES – For the second straight Friday night, the Northwestern State baseball team was involved in a last at-bat victory.
Unfortunately for the Demons, the latest did not go their way.
Southeastern scored four runs in the ninth inning, erasing a two-run Northwestern State lead and propelling the Lions to a 6-4 win in the Southland Conference series opener at Brown-Stroud Field.
"They did a good job," sixth-year head coach
Bobby Barbier said. "You have to give them credit for getting the hits when they needed to. I thought (NSU starter) Cal (Carver) was tremendous. We can't keep giving away good starts. We gave away another today."
Carver gave the Demons (20-21, 8-8) another quality start, scattering four hits in seven innings of one-run ball, and left with a 3-1 lead after striking out Bryce Grizzaffi with a runner on second to end the seventh inning.
Jake Haze's squeeze bunt in the seventh extended the Demons' lead to 4-1 and seemed to put the Demons in prime position to win and keep pace with conference co-leaders McNeese and Nicholls, both of whom won Friday night.
Southeastern (18-24, 8-8) had other ideas, scratching out an eighth-inning run against
Gus Collins to cut the lead to 4-2. When the Demons failed to answer in their half of the eighth – stranding
Gabe Colaianni at third after he reached there with one out – the Lions mounted a ninth-inning rally to snap a three-game conference losing streak.
Champ Artigues' leadoff double sparked the four-run rally, which came against Collins,
Dawson Flowers (0-2) and
Andrew Cossio. The key hit was Tyler Finke's two-run single through the right side of the infield with the bases loaded, giving the Lions their first lead of the game.
"(We don't score) and they come out with a leadoff double," Barbier said. "Give them credit. They did a good job with the bases loaded, and we didn't do a great job on the mound. We've got to come out and compete harder (Saturday)."
The Demons backed Carver with some early offense as
Daunte Stuart and
Gray Rowlett connected on back-to-back home runs in the first inning off starter Will Kinzeler. It marked the second time in as many games the Demons had hit consecutive home runs with Rowlett serving as the back end in both instances.
Carver, meanwhile, shook off a 26-pitch first inning and retired 10 straight until Preston Faulkner's solo home run in the fourth. The Demon left-hander settled back in and stranded four Lions in his final three innings of work.
Colaianni quickly answered Faulkner's home run with one of his own, dropping a leadoff shot into the right-field bullpen to start the fourth inning.
While the Demons tied a season high with three home runs in a game, NSU did not record a hit with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-12.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. Northwestern State will send right-hander
Johnathan Harmon (5-4, 2.98) to the mound against Southeastern left-hander Adam Guth (1-1, 5.56).
Southeastern 6, Northwestern State 4
SLU 000 100 014 – 6 9 2
NSU 200 100 100 – 4 9 1
W – Hayden Robb (3-3). L –
Dawson Flowers (0-2). S – Gage Trahan (6). 2B – SLU, Evan Keller, Champ Artigues, Bryce Grizzaffi. HR – SLU, Preston Faulkner (12). NSU,
Daunte Stuart (4),
Gray Rowlett (3),
Gabe Colaianni (1). Highlights: SLU, Keller 2-4, 2B; Tyler Finke 2-5, 2 RBIs; Preston Faulkner 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Grizzaffi 2-4, 2B, RBI. NSU, Colaianni 2-4, HR, RBI;
Bo Willis 2-4.
Records: Southeastern 18-24, 8-4; Northwestern State 20-21, 8-8.
