NATCHITOCHES – Unique setups have been a constant throughout the 2024 Northwestern State baseball season.
 
Therefore, it is fitting the Demons' final weekend series of the season is a non-conference set against former Southland Conference rival Stephen F. Austin, and it comes with a Thursday-Friday-Saturday setup that features an early start for the series opener.
 
NSU (20-31) and Stephen F. Austin (10-42) open the series at 2 p.m. Thursday and will follow with a 6:30 p.m. matchup Friday before closing the regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday. All three games will air on ESPN+.
 
This weekend's series marks the third time for NSU to finish a season against a non-conference foe since 2021 but the first time it will do so in a weekend series. The previous two times came in mid-week games at LSU in 2021 and 2022.
 
"It's different on paper," first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "From a coaching standpoint, maybe it's different in the way you make some decisions and set things up. From a strictly baseball standpoint, games are games. For us, we had to navigate our way through the Southland Conference schedule, and I feel we did a really good job of that. Now we have to navigate our way through what this last week will be and use it in a way that helps us learn and prepare for what next week's tournament is going to be.
 
"There are some unique elements to it, but at the same time, it's not something that warrants a distraction. It's something that makes you plan ahead. It makes you look for efficiency. It makes you look for opportunities. That is how we have treated it, and it is how we are going to continue to treat it."
 
After finishing their final Southland Conference series with a 13-2, run-rule victory against New Orleans on Monday, the Demons resume their rivalry with the Lumberjacks, who left the Southland Conference in 2021.
 
The teams have squared off in each of the past two seasons with NSU winning three of the five games. The teams split a pair of games in a three-day stretch last season with SFA winning in Sugar Land, Texas, before the Demons grabbed a run-rule win at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
Northwestern State has secured its spot in next week's Southland Conference Tournament in Hammond, marking another unique part of this weekend's matchup with the Lumberjacks – one that caps a season-long, six-game homestand.
 
"We're done with final exams, so we don't have to navigate our way around the schoolwork part of it," Bertrand said. "They get to be baseball players. They get to experience what is the last couple of weeks of some of their careers. They get to do it in front of a crowd and a fan base that has been unbelievable to us all year long. We can't say enough about how we feel at home at the B-Stro and how they supported us through what were some very, very tough times and the way they continued to be there for us and have our backs. All of our elements, we see it as an opportunity to do something in front of our home fans and prepare for what the ultimate goal is next week."
 
While the Demons have a conference tournament to look toward, the Lumberjacks are playing their final series of the season. Among the Stephen F. Austin roster, there are 15 players listed as seniors, who potentially are playing the final games of their careers.
 
"We fully expect their best shot, because that's the type of man (SFA head coach) Johnny (Cardenas) is," Bertrand said. "That's the type of coach Johnny is. He runs a program where we expect every bit of it. He's going to have his team prepared. He's going to have them ready to give their best shot. We need to prepare accordingly. All of the other elements – even though they at times warrant conversation – are for the people on the outside looking in. On the inside of both of these programs, an umpire says, 'Play ball,' and we're going to battle. We fully expect that from Johnny and his team.
 
"For a lot of those old-school fans, NSU and SFA, Demons and Lumberjacks, that means something to a lot of people. It means something to be able to compete against an old rival."