Box Score LAFAYETTE – Northwestern State's first Wednesday night baseball game of the season started fine.
 
After the first inning, however, things took a turn in an undesirable direction.
 
Host UL Lafayette scored in its final seven at-bats – producing five multi-run innings – as it cruised to a 15-3 win against the Demons at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park.
 
"They have a really good offense, and they put pressure on you with the running game," seventh-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "They all run. We just didn't handle it well. We had a ball go off our glove early. Then they have two bunt hits that are bang-bang plays. When they can run and put the ball on the ground, they do a good job. We've got to regroup and get ready to play Friday."
 
Northwestern State (21-17) got a scoreless first inning from Chase Prestwich (4-3), who needed just five pitches to record three outs – two of which came on an inning-ending double play.
 
Once the Demons failed to score against Cajun starter Jackson Nezuh (6-3) in the second, the UL Lafayette offense took off.
 
Conor Higgs' leadoff double against Prestwich in the second started a three-run inning – one of three such frames for the Cajuns (28-15), who scored in double figures for the second straight day after a 10-5 Tuesday win against Southern.
 
The Cajuns led 5-0 before Northwestern State put together a two-out rally in the fourth inning to dent the scoreboard.
 
Left-hander Steven Bush retired the first two Demons in the fourth before Jake Haze singled for NSU's first hit of the game. Bo Willis followed with another single before Gray Rowlett doubled home Haze to cut the lead to four.
 
Bush escaped further damage by retiring the next hitter with runners on second and third.
 
The Cajuns rapped out 16 hits and took advantage of three NSU errors – two of which led directly to unearned runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
 
Senior left fielder Jeffrey Elkins, a Lafayette native, did give the Demons a bit of a storybook moment in the seventh when he turned on a 2-0 fastball from reliever Brendan Moody and drilled it over the left-field wall for his seventh home run of the season and the 31^st of his career, moving him into a three-way tie with Daryl Woods and David Fry atop NSU's all-time list.
 
"He got all of it," Barbier said. "That's pretty cool for him to do it in his hometown."
 
While Elkins added to his career total, the Demons' final run came courtesy of a player who enjoyed two career firsts Wednesday night.
 
Redshirt freshman infielder Hayden Knotts' eighth-inning RBI single came in his first career at-bat, driving in freshman Michael Dattalo, who led off the eighth with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch.
 
The Demons return to action Friday when they host conference-leading Nicholls in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
 
UL Lafayette 15, Northwestern State 3
NSU       000 100 110 – 3 8 3
ULL         032 313 12x – 15 16 1
W – Jackson Nezuh (6-3). L – Chase Prestwich (4-3). 2B – NSU, Gray Rowlett, Cole Horton. ULL, Conor Higgs 2, Carson Roccaforte, Will Veillon. 3B – ULL, Heath Hood. HR – NSU, Jeffrey Elkins (7). Highlights: ULL, Kyle DeBarge 3-5, 3 RBIs; Higgs 2-3, 2 2Bs, 2 RBIs; Roccaforte 2-4, 2B, RBI; Veillon 3-4, 2B, 2 RBIs; Max Marusak 2-4, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 21-17; UL Lafayette 28-15.