SAN ANTONIO – On a day where a typically offensive ballpark played to the pitchers, the Northwestern State baseball team came out on the wrong end of a pitchers duel.
 
The Demons could not solve UIW right-handers Hunter Hargett and Dave Johnson while the Cardinals took advantage of their offensive opportunities and completed a three-game Southland Conference sweep with a 5-0 win Sunday afternoon at Sullivan Field.
 
"In the 15 or 20 so pitches that decided the ballgame, they executed those pitches or put the bat on the ball low and hard a few more times than what we did," first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "Three of the five runs that crossed the plate were walks or HBPs. The amount of runners left on base, coupled with the fact on a day where the wind is blowing in we have 16 flyball outs of our 27 was not productive. The game plan was to try to go low and hard, and we just couldn't get it done."
 
Each team was held to five hits on a day where the wind consistently blew in from right field.
 
While both teams had their chances early, UIW (23-15, 8-4) was the one to break through, taking advantage of a leadoff walk from Dawson Flowers (1-3) to start a three-run fourth inning that included a perfectly executed hit-and-run single to put runners on the corners with no outs.
 
Flowers struck out Ryan Scott before Luca Boscerino's chopper to second brought home the game's first run. Grant Randall followed with a flare to right field to score two runs and give Hargett (2-0) all the run support he needed.
 
Hargett went six innings, scattering four hits and striking out three, before Johnson closed things with three innings of one-hit shutout relief to complete the five-hitter.
 
Much like Friday's series opener in which NSU stranded 16 runners in a 6-3 loss, the Demons (14-26, 6-9) had their chances, especially early.
 
NSU stranded nine runners Sunday, six in the first four innings when the game was scoreless.
 
"On their side of it for the five runs, I thought they had five balls they put in play that were low and hard hits," Bertrand said. "Those five balls – and on our end a few missed ones – along with some freebies, if you look at the 20 pitches that decided the ballgame, they won significantly more of those 20 than we did."
 
The Demons return to action Tuesday when they open a four-game homestand against Grambling. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
UIW 5, Northwestern State 0
NSU     000 000 000 – 0 5 0
UIW      000 310 10x – 5 5 1
W – Hunter Hargett (2-0). L – Dawson Flowers (1-3). S – Dave Johnson (1). 2B – UIW, Cameron Caley.
Records: Northwestern State 14-26, 6-9; UIW 23-15, 8-4.