NATCHITOCHES – One week later, the Northwestern State baseball team gets a second chance against an in-state rival.
 
The Demons host UL Lafayette at 6 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN+ to cap a stretch of six straight games against Sun Belt Conference opponents.
 
Northwestern State (4-8) has won two of its first five games in that string. The Demons, however, dropped a 14-4 decision to the Ragin' Cajuns (5-6) on Feb. 28 in Lafayette.
 
"Another learning experience for us," first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "All of the things we talked about going into last week's matchup, we get to do those same things hopefully in a cleaner way – learning from last week's mid-week game there but also learning from what took place over the weekend in a positive direction."
 
NSU took two of three games from visiting Troy this past weekend while the Cajuns dropped three straight games in the Astros Foundation College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Those three losses came by a combined seven runs with one coming in 11 innings.
 
The Demons bounced back from that mid-week loss to the Cajuns by taking steps forward on the mound, which is what NSU saw from freshman Kevin Robinson (0-0, 0.00) in that first matchup.
 
Robinson tossed two scoreless innings against the Cajuns in his NSU debut, joining a long list of first-year players who have made their first appearances in a Demon uniform in 2024.
 
"A lot of intangible characteristics we look for in the way in which outings take place and a lot of the small details in the game," Bertrand said of what Robinson's debut showed himself and pitching coach Dan Hlad. "What we saw was a competitive spirit. We saw a mound presence. We saw absolutely no fear in the way he went on the attack, the way he filled up the strike zone and the way he was willing to take his stuff and challenge people with it.
 
"Aside from the physical pitching, we were in search of some intangibles, some details. We felt we saw from him not only in his debut but in his development overall. We're going to hand him the baseball, and we expect him to show the same things."
 
Robinson will oppose freshman right-hander Murphy Brooks (1-0), who picked up the short-start win a week ago.
 
Brooks went two innings in that game, allowing a two-run home run to freshman Colin Rains for Rains' first collegiate homer.
 
Rains' blast came after the Demons trailed 9-0 following a first inning in which the Cajuns tallied four unearned runs. All told, eight of their 14 runs in the game were unearned thanks to a pair of NSU errors.
 
"We talked on Sunday about balance, and I think that's a good word for us this week," Bertrand said. "Continuing to balance out everything we have to do on our side while preparing for an opponent. We have to take the things that happened that were good for us on an overall very positive weekend, and we have to figure out how to replicate the success while fixing some things."
 
Probable Starters
UL Lafayette RHP Murphy Brooks (1-0, 9.00) at Northwestern State RHP Kevin Robinson (0-0, 0.00)