NATCHITOCHES – Visiting Lamar did not give the Northwestern State many chances to convert on a Cardinals mistake during Saturday's Southland Conference doubleheader at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
Given an opportunity in the nightcap, the Demons pounced and secured their second straight conference series victory, downing Lamar 6-5 to take the series two games to one. Lamar had pulled even in the series with a 9-7 victory in Game 1 of the doubleheader.
 
"(Lamar) competed really well today," seventh-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "They competed at the plate. They made our pitchers work extremely hard. They do a really good job of commanding the strike zone both ways. That usually wins.
 
"We stayed in the fight. We got to Gabe (Colaianni), who has been our guy lately. He's really been swinging the bat well. It was a good day for our team to fight through some mistakes and still get a W."
 
Down 4-2 in the seventh inning, Bailyn Sorensen drew a leadoff walk and Jacob Farrell followed with a single before Jeffrey Elkins grounded into a fielder's choice, leaving runners on the corners with one out.
 
Elkins moved to second on a wild pitch before Michael Dattalo's grounder up the middle off reliever Trhea Morse (1-3) went through Kirkland Banks' legs, scoring two runs to tie the game.
 
Three batters later – after Morse issued consecutive two-out walks to Gray Rowlett and Jake Haze – Colaianni hooked reliever Daniel Cole's first pitch through the right side for a tiebreaking, two-run single. The base hit capped a weekend in which Colaianni went 5-for-13 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
 
"I was looking for something over the plate I could get a barrel on," Colaianni said. "Anything down, I was just going to spit. I worked on getting the ball up, and I got a pitch to hit."
 
Lamar (18-13, 4-5) continued to put pressure on the Demons (18-13, 4-2), cutting the lead in half on Josh Blankenship's RBI groundout in the eighth before Kyle Froehlich (3-0) stranded runners on the corners to close out the game and give NSU its second straight series win.
 
Froehlich collected the final 11 outs after junior right-hander Drayton Brown turned in his third straight sparkling start.
 
Brown left with the Demons up 2-1 after 5 1-3 innings of three-hit ball, finishing with a line of three runs (one earned) and three strikeouts. It marked the third straight start of at least five innings and no more than one earned run for Brown – a streak that began with five innings against Oregon where Brown did not allow an earned run.
 
"(The ninth inning) was going to be (Froehlich's) last one," Barbier said. "We had to win it in nine for him to finish it. It was good to see him, not as sharp as he has been early in the season, but when you're asked to get more than three outs, that stuff shows up. Drayton was really good for us again today."
 
In the opener, the Demons played the role of gracious host, walking nine and hitting two others in a back-and-forth affair in which neither team could wrest momentum for long.
 
Down 1-0 after a first inning in which Lamar scored without the benefit of a hit, Colaianni and Daunte Stuart connected on solo home runs against Brooks Caple (3-0) to put the Demons up.
 
The lead was short lived as Ryan Snell launched his 11^th home run of the season – a two-out, two-run shot – in the third off Alex Makarewich (2-3) to give the Cardinals a lead they would not relinquish.
 
Lamar scored in six of its nine at-bats, including three innings in which the Cardinals did not record a hit.
 
Northwestern State twice cut the lead to one but could not take the lead.
 
Bailyn Sorensen's two-run home run in the fifth pulled NSU within 5-4 and Elkins' three-run shot in the seventh made it 8-7, driving Caple from the game. Jackson Cleveland entered and recorded a seven-out save that ended with left fielder Kevin Bermudez robbing Elkins of an RBI double with a diving catch in left-center field.
 
"We made too many mistakes today," Barbier said. "It's a matter of limiting mistakes and attacking when mistakes are made. In our game, it's really easy when mistakes are being made to get back on your heels and not make mistakes. That's not who we need to be. We need to be a team that attacks when mistakes are made."
 
The Demons return to action Tuesday when they travel to Nacogdoches, Texas, to face Stephen F. Austin. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at Jaycees Field.
 
Lamar 9-5, Northwestern State 7-6
Game 1
LU           112 100 310 – 9 6 1
NSU       200 020 300 – 7 8 1
W – Brooks Caple (3-0). L – Alex Makarewich (2-3). S – Jackson Cleveland (6). 2B – LU, Kanin Dodge 2. NSU, Bailyn Sorensen. HR – LU, Ethan Culp (1), Ryan Snell (11). NSU, Jeffrey Elkins (5), Gabe Colaianni (5), Daunte Stuart (5), Sorensen (5). Highlights: LU, Dodge 2-5, 2 2Bs. NSU, Sorensen 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs.
Game 2
LU           001 002 110 – 5 7 1
NSU       100 010 40x – 6 10 2
W – Kyle Froehlich (3-0). L – Trhea Morse (1-3). 2B –LU, Ryan Snell, Ethan Ruiz. NSU, Jeffrey Elkins, Jacob Farrell 2. Highlights: LU, Kevin Bermudez 3-4. NSU, Elkins 2-5, 2B, RBI; Gray Rowlett 2-3; Gabe Colaianni 2-4, 3 RBIs; Farrell 3-4, 2 2Bs.
Records: Lamar 18-13, 4-5; Northwestern State 18-13, 4-2.