NATCHITOCHES – Twenty-three games against Louisiana opponents, including the resumption of a dormant rivalry with a state opponent, and a two-weekend Southland Conference Tournament highlight the 2025 Northwestern State baseball schedule.
 
Second-year coach Chris Bertrand announced his team's 53-game slate Thursday.
 
"We are excited to accept the challenge," Bertrand said. "We think it is a very challenging schedule based on the opponents that are on it. We think it's a very challenging schedule as we navigate a lot of new things and a lot of firsts with the scheduling model, the landscape of the Southland Conference and moving back to a two-week conference tournament. For us, we feel like we have built a team and prepared all fall to base our team on grit and toughness and guys who are willing to accept the challenge it brings."
 
The Demons, coming off a 22-win campaign in Bertrand's first season, will not have to wait long to jump into Southland Conference play as league competition begins on the third weekend of the season when Northwestern heads south to face Southeastern from Feb. 28-March 2.
 
That series comes two weeks after the Demons open the season by hosting former Southland Conference rival Central Arkansas in the season-opening series at the new-look Brown-Stroud Field.
 
Northwestern will host the Bears for the first game on the new turf at the B-Stro on Feb. 14.
 
Following the opening series, the Demons will play seven of their next nine games away from home, traveling to ULM (Feb. 19) and Troy (Feb. 21-23) before hosting SUNO (Feb. 25) and Alcorn (Feb. 26) in midweek action ahead of the SLC opening series at Southeastern.
 
After traveling to Southeastern, the Demons return home for a season-long, six-game homestand against LeTourneau (March 4), UIW (March 7-9), Grambling (March 11) and Mississippi Valley State (March 12).
 
The Grambling game is part of a home-and-home series with the Tigers as Northwestern will make the trek to Grambling on March 18. Along with a three-game set with ULM that includes games in Monroe on Feb. 19 and April 29, the home-and-home with Grambling marks the only two-time midweek matchups for the Demons this season.
 
Northwestern will play single midweek road games at UL Lafayette (April 1), Tulane (April 2) and LSU (April 29) while it will host Centenary (March 25) and LSU-Alexandria (April 15) in midweek action.
 
The matchup with Tulane will be the first between the Demons and the Green Wave since the teams met twice in 2013.
 
In addition to opening Southland play at Southeastern, the Demons have road league series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 14-16), New Orleans (March 21-23), Houston Christian (April 11-13) and Stephen F. Austin (April 25-27).
 
The Demons also will make a trip west to face Pepperdine in Malibu, California, from May 2-4, marking the first time Northwestern will face the Waves.
 
"When you talk about building a program to be player-centered, every bit of it matters," Bertrand said. "When you say every bit of it matters, then scheduling – giving the guys an experience, letting them see a different type of baseball and letting them have a level of experience – we want it to be where their time in the program makes them better. It makes them better players, and it makes them better people by learning life lessons. Pepperdine and Tulane and so many of these other trips and names, they do that for you.
 
"It benefits our players. It also gives us the added benefit – whether it's this year or in years to come – when you say you're building a program that wants to compete and play in the postseason, the reality is in an NCAA Regional, they can give you teams from anywhere in the country. Exposing yourself, in the regular season, to as many different types of baseball and as many learning experiences is going to pay dividends when our program reaches the pinnacle of the goals we have."
 
The Demons will host Southland series against UIW, Nicholls (March 28-30), UTRGV (April 4-6), Lamar (April 17-19) and McNeese (May 8-10). The matchup with the Cowboys comes ahead of the first weekend of the two-week Southland Conference Tournament where the top two finishers in the league will host four-team pods.
 
The winners of those regional-style tournaments will meet in a best-of-three series at the home of the better seed. The Southland utilized this tournament format following the 2022 season.
 
Season tickets for Northwestern State baseball are on sale now. Log onto NSUTickets.com, call the ticket office at 318-357-4268 or visit the office in person