NATCHITOCHES – For the third straight game in its season-opening series against Southern Illinois, the Northwestern State baseball team showed its ability to rally from an early-game deficit.
 
The next step for the Demons is to find a way to finish one of those rallies in a positive manner.
 
Southern Illinois used a trio of multi-run innings Sunday at Brown-Stroud Field to build three multi-run leads before hanging on to defeat host Northwestern State, 15-11, and complete a three-game sweep.
 
"Three days in a row, the same exact script," first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "For us, we have the perspective that it requires balance in the way we feel about it. We continue to be proud of the effort. We continue to be proud of the fight. We continue to be proud of the good things we are doing. We just seem to have the self-inflicted wounds that continue to bite us."
 
Seven Northwestern State pitchers combined to walk or hit 16 Salukis, and the visitors took advantage. Seven Southern Illinois players who reached base with a walk or hit by pitch scored.
 
Meanwhile, the Demons (0-3) coaxed eight free bases – seven walks and a hit batter – off Southern Illinois (3-0) pitching, eventually scoring three of those hitters.
 
"Huge crooked numbers – a six, a five and a four – and in all of those, three or more walks in those innings, which also involved an error and/or balls to the backstop," Bertrand said. "The free bases and the gifts continue to haunt us, but we saw some nuggets of things that say if we fix the things that are required to be fixed – which I think are fixable – then we're very close to turning the corner. If we can turn the corner, I can see some things that say we may have a pretty good ballclub."
 
For the third time in as many games, the Demon offense pounded double-digit hits off the Southern Illinois staff, driving starter Jake Combs, a second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference pitcher a season ago, out of the game with a four-run third inning that tied the game at five.
 
Trailing 5-1 after a five-run SIU second inning, Cole Hill's one-out single started a run of five straight Demons reaching base in the inning.
 
Rocco Gump, whose first-inning home run gave the Demons an early 1-0 lead, started the third-inning scoring with an RBI single before Bo Willis (RBI single) and Clay Jung (RBI double) added run-scoring hits. Braden Benton's sacrifice fly off reliever Sam Myers pulled NSU even.
 
Northwestern State found some clutch two-out hits Sunday, starting with Reese Lipoma's tie-breaking RBI single in the fourth and Willis' second RBI single of the day in the sixth. Those hits – and three-plus strong innings from freshman right-hander Dylan Marionneaux – put NSU up 7-5 after six innings for the second straight day.
 
Making his collegiate debut, Marionneaux allowed two hits and two walks to give the Demons a chance to rally in the middle innings.
 
"You can't say enough about what Dylan did," Bertrand said. "He's earned himself something that's probably a little more next week. It was good to see that type of response. Good to see a lot of our young players in not just statistics but in their attack. Dylan took the mound with a mind-set of wanting to attack. He executed pitches and left it all out on the mound. For multiple young players on our team to be able to do that, we're excited about what can come from that."
 
John Shahrdar (0-1) helped keep Marionneaux's line clean after getting out of a sixth-inning jam, but the Salukis had a seventh-inning rally in their pocket for the second straight day.
 
After putting up seven runs in the seventh Saturday, Southern Illinois used a two-run home run from Matt Schark and a go-ahead RBI single from Mathieu Vallee to spark a six-run frame.
 
Undeterred the Demons answered with a two-run single from Gump in their half of the seventh, giving him eight RBIs in his first three games as a Demon.

Southern Illinois tacked on four runs in the ninth before Jung gave the Demons one last chance with a two-out, two-run triple that evaded a diving Vallee in center field. Anthony Pron then closed out a six-out save to give the Salukis the sweep.
 
Gump (3-for-5), Willis (3-for-6), Jung (2-for-5), Hayden Knotts (2-for-3) and Hill (3-for-4) helped the Demons collect a season-high 15 hits while Vallee (4-for-5), Schark (2-for-3) and Bennett Eltoft (2-for-5) produced multi-hit games for the Salukis.
 
The Demons return to action Thursday when they face Northern Illinois at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
 
Southern Illinois 15, Northwestern State 11
SIU       050 000 604 – 15 13 2
NSU     104 101 202 – 11 15 1
W – Cole Koonce (1-0). L – John Shahrdar (0-1). S – Anthony Pron (1). 2B – NSU, Clay Jung, Daniel Young, Hayden Knotts. 3B – NSU, Jung. HR – SIU, Steven Loden (3), Matt Schark (1). NSU, Rocco Gump (2). Highlights: SIU, Mathieu Vallee 4-5, 3 RBIs; Bennett Eltoft 2-5, RBI; Schark 2-4, HR, 3 RBIs. NSU, Gump 3-5, HR, 4 RBIs; Bo Willis 3-6, 2 RBIs; Jung 2-5, 2B, 3B, 3 RBIs; Knotts 2-3, 2B; Cole Hill 3-4.
Records: Southern Illinois 3-0, Northwestern State 0-3