NATCHITOCHES – With everything seemingly stacked against it, the Northwestern State baseball team put on arguably its most resilient performance of 2022.
 
Down seven runs after half an inning and without right-handed pitcher Johnathan Harmon, the Demons' No. 2 starter all season, Northwestern State roared back and then held on for a 14-11 Southland Conference win against New Orleans at Brown-Stroud Field to even the three-game series.
 
"With us having to go emergency start today, I thought we did a really good job of staying in the game," sixth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "Our offense obviously came alive and gave us some life in the second inning, and we ran with it. We had some good performances out of the bullpen, and we had some really good performances at the plate. Daunte (Stuart) swung the bat well. Jake (Haze) was on base all game long. Bo (Willis) with the big grand slam to put it out of reach in the middle innings.
 
"It was a good team win and good to see us fight back from what seemed insurmountable at the time."
 
Down 7-0 after the first inning, the Demons (25-25, 12-11) loaded the bases with one out in the first against Privateers starter Beau Blanchard only for Blanchard to wiggle out of the jam.
 
That marked the first of five straight innings in which the Demons loaded the bases Friday night, allowing them to fight back from the early deficit.
 
The Demons hit three home runs in a home game for the third time this season. Bo Willis' grand slam in the fourth was the biggest in terms of runs produced, but Cam Sibley's two-out, two-run home run provided the most important swing of the game – the one that put Northwestern State ahead to stay.
 
It was Sibley's first home run since Feb. 19 against Stephen F. Austin and allowed him to don the yellow hard hat he found during the Demons' visit to tornado-stricken Arabi on March 25 for the first time. Sibley has been the keeper of the helmet, which the Demons have used to celebrate home runs since their humanitarian efforts.
 
"It was a great feeling," Sibley said. "I've been waiting for it all year. It's good that it finally happened. Keep working and it will pay off eventually."
 
Five batters after Sibley's go-ahead blast, Willis helped etch his name in the Demon record books, turning the first pitch thrown by Connor Macip threw into his second grand slam of the season and his 10^th home run.
 
It came in Willis' fourth at-bat of the game – the third with the bases loaded – and made him and Jeffrey Elkins (11 home runs) the first Demon duo to eclipse 10 home runs in the same season.
 
"Usually, in a bases-loaded situation or runners in scoring position, I'll sit off-speed but still look for the fastball," said Willis, who leads NSU with 43 RBIs. "That changes when a new pitcher comes in and wants to establish a fastball. I used an ambush tactic and sat on the fastball."
 
The homers highlighted a seven-run innings with all the runs scoring after two outs. It allowed the Demon bullpen the breathing room it needed to collect 25 outs.
 
Dawson Flowers, Cameron Taylor (3-1), Chase Prestwich and Ethan Francis (1^st save) did so with Flowers and Taylor keeping the Privateers (26-21, 12-11) scoreless from the second through the fifth innings.
 
That allowed the Demon offense to score all 14 of its runs in a four-inning stretch between the second and fifth innings and earn a split of the first two games of the final regular-season series of the year.
 
Francis closed the game, getting a 1-2-3 ninth inning against the top three hitters in the New Orleans order.
 
"(Francis) was dynamite," Barbier said. "Dawson, after the HBP and home run in the first, settled the game down, especially after we scored. Five runs for us, zero for them. One for us, zero for them. Seven for us, zero for them. It grabs momentum and keeps it on your side when that happens."
 
Stuart paced the Demons' 16-hit attack, going 4-for-5 with an RBI double in the seven-run fourth inning. Jake Haze went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs from atop the lineup while Willis (2-for-6) and Larson Fontenot (2-for-5) added multi-hit games. Sibley's home run accounted for two of his three RBIs on the day.
 
The series concludes Saturday at 1 p.m. Right-hander Drayton Brown (5-5, 4.09) starts for Northwestern State against New Orleans left-hander Kyle Khachadourian (4-2, 4.31).
 
Northwestern State 14, New Orleans 11
UNO      700 001 210 – 11 10 2
NSU       051 710 00x – 14 16 0
W – Cameron Taylor (3-1). L – Dylan Porter (1-2). S – Ethan Francis (1). 2B – UNO, Andrew Guidry 2. NSU, Daunte Stuart, Gray Rowlett, Larson Fontenot. 3B – NSU, Bailyn Sorensen. HR – UNO, Isaac Williams (8). NSU, Gabe Colaianni (3), Bo Willis (10), Cam Sibley (2). Highlights: UNO, Pearce Howard 2-6; Jeissy DeLaCruz 2-4; Guidry 2-3, 2 2Bs. NSU, Jake Haze 3-4, 2 RBIs; Stuart 4-5, 2B, RBI; Willis 2-4, GS, 4 RBIs; Larson Fontenot 2-5.