HAMMOND – The Northwestern State baseball team arrives at the final regular-season series in a familiar position – still within reach of a Southland Conference championship.
 
For the third straight season, the Demons enter the last series of the year with a chance to collect the league title. If NSU is to grab its first conference crown since 2005, it will have to go through defending Southland Conference Tournament champion Southeastern in a series that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
 
All three games of the series – 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday's 2 p.m. series finale – will air on ESPN+. Free streaming audio will be available through www.NSUDemons.com and the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded free for Apple and Android devices.
 
"You look at the program, and it's a combination of different things," seventh-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. "We had Alumni Weekend last weekend, and hopefully we made them proud with the strides we've taken. It's been a fun ride so far, and hopefully we have a bunch more baseball to play.
 
"Having something to play for is always fun. You grew up playing in tournaments where you win and you go on. That's a lot of fun."
 
Northwestern State (27-22, 12-9) took two of three games from McNeese this past weekend, keeping the Demons two games behind league-leading Nicholls.
 
The Colonels finish the season on the road at New Orleans, which sits three games behind the conference leaders.
 
Northwestern State has a couple of paths to the conference title – sweeping Southeastern (22-25, 6-14) while New Orleans sweeps Nicholls would give the Demons the outright conference crown. An NSU sweep coupled with the Privateers taking two of three from Nicholls would leave the Demons and Colonels tied.
 
Throw in a UIW team that is tied with Northwestern State for second in the league entering the weekend and the league standings are awash in indecision as eight teams finish the conference season this weekend. Only McNeese, at 12-12 in league play, has completed its conference schedule.
 
The Demons' series win against McNeese gave them an 8-4 conference record at Brown-Stroud Field – a mark that includes series wins against UIW and Nicholls that gives NSU the tiebreaker over both teams for seeding purposes in next week's conference tournament in Lake Charles.
 
After winning their first conference road series at New Orleans from March 31-April 2, the Demons dropped back-to-back road series at Houston Christian (April 14-16) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (May 5-7).
 
"Those were two tough places to play," Barbier said. "We have to remember the bases are still 90 feet. It's still 60 feet, six inches from the pitcher's rubber to the plate. We need to do a better job, because we go to Lake Charles for the tournament after this. I think we're up to the challenge."
 
The Demons enter this weekend's series with a "formula" Barbier says works for his team.
 
"When our starting pitching gets deep into the game, it usually produces wins," he said. "We don't do a lot of bunting and running. We've got some powerful guys who can hit the ball in the gaps and over the fence."
 
Following that formula has put the Demons in position to break a pair of single-season program records – home runs (58) and pitching strikeouts (459). Entering their 50th game of the season, the Demons have connected on 56 home runs and struck out 430 opposing batters.

With at least four games left – the Nos. 6 and 7 seeds in next week's SLC Tournament square off in a single-elimination, play-in game – the Demons are within striking distance of both marks.
 
However, Barbier said his team's focus needs to be on the minor details as it concludes the regular season.
 
"We've got to play clean and do things the right way," he said.
 
Series Probables
Thursday: Northwestern State LHP Cal Carver (6-3, 4.64) at Southeastern RHP Andrew Landry (2-3, 3.80)
Friday: Northwestern State RHP Alex Makarewich (5-4, 4.99) at Southeastern RHP Will Kinzeler (5-1, 3.47)
Saturday: Northwestern State RHP Drayton Brown (5-6, 5.93) at Southeastern TBA