HOUSTON – Northwestern State continues its gauntlet of games through the first two weeks of the season with five more this weekend in the Houston Classic.
 
After seven games in the span of seven days since opening day, the most of any team in the Southland Conference, and a midweek road doubleheader earlier this week the Demons (3-4) will take on UTSA, UMass and Houston beginning on Friday and going through to Sunday.
 
Due to projected rain in the Houston area game times have been adjusted in the days leading up to the start of the weekend with NSU's opener against UTSA being pushed back to an 11 a.m. start on Friday.
 
They will play a doubleheader against UMass and UTSA on Saturday and finish the weekend with a Sunday double-dip against Houston. Both games against the Cougars will air on ESPN+. All other games will have live stats available at nsudemons.com courtesy of Houston.
 
Fans should follow @NSUDemonsSB on Twitter/X for game updates throughout the weekend as well as any game time changes that could occur due to weather.
 
The Demons split a pair of one-run games on Tuesday against rival Stephen F. Austin in the first of four matchups with the Lumberjacks during the first month of the season. It was the latest in a stretch of four one-run games in the past five for NSU on the young season. It took 20 games for NSU to play that many tight games a season ago.
 
The early pressure moments though are something that first-year head coach Lacy Prejean believes will make the team better as the season progresses.
 
"It makes you want to work harder," she said. "I hope it motivates them and they use it as that. It puts pressure on the pitching and defense and they have risen to the occasion and made the plays when we had to make them. The offense has taken a little time to get started, but they all have the desire and want to compete and that's what I'm asking of them. We're learning what it's going to take to win game and how to keep fighting and battling."
 
The experience-laden Demon pitching staff has not blinked at the pressure of the tight games so far this year. Maggie Darr and Kenzie Seely each threw more than five innings without allowing more than a run on Tuesday night. Seely tossed her second career shutout allowing just two hits and striking out 10 in the game, her second highest single game total.
 
As a staff NSU has not allowed more than two earned runs in a single game in six straight games, already longer than any streak from a season ago. They have a miniscule 1.33 team ERA over the past six games and allowed just eight total earned runs in 42.0 innings of work.
 
"Everybody has given us a quality start already this year and I'm really happy with what they are doing for us in the circle," Prejean said of the staff. "They have put us in a position to win and have been pitching in a lot of stressful innings and tight games. They have commanded the zone and not given up many free bases because of walks and hit batters. They have been light's out and Coach Lexi (Smith) and them have had good game plans going into these games."
 
NSU's first meeting with UTSA on opening day, the Demons' and Prejean's first win of the season, served as the first of the six straight games without allowing more than two earned runs. Darr threw the first five innings of the game, allowing just one run, with Aly Delafield tossing the final two allowing just one run in an 8-2 NSU win.
 
The Demons will face the Roadrunners two more times this weekend, once on Friday and once on Saturday.
 
That first game against UTSA was also NSU's biggest on the offensive end with Tristin Court smashing a pair of doubles in a 3-for-3 game and Ashlyn Walker launching the team's first home run of the season. Laney Roos had her first three-hit game earlier this week at SFA, the team-leading 12^th of her career, as the Demons continue to hone in on their offensive production.
 
Taylor Williams leads the squad with a .316 average out of the two-hole in the lineup. She has four of NSU's 19 total hits over the past four games. The Demons had 11 hits in two games against SFA on this week with one of the things that has plagued the offense early on – missed opportunities with runners on base.
 
"If we could have back one or two pitches a game in these past six games I think it's a different outcome," Prejean said. "We've had runners on. We've executed. We just haven't had somebody step up and be the person to get it done, yet. It's coming though. We need some better production from the bottom of our lineup to give the top half some RBI opportunities and vice versa. 
 
"Scouting reports are out now on both sides. We're going to be better prepared for what we're seeing at the plate but they're going to prepared for how to attack us as well. So, we have to get better and hitting those pitches that are in the zone and making solid contact. We're trying different things and different lineups but we're still going to stay aggressive, and people are going to get chances and they just need to capitalize on them when they do."