TROY, Alabama – Armed with a series victory to start the season, the Northwestern State baseball team hits the road for the first time in the 2025 campaign.
 
What awaits the Demons on their first trip of the year is a nationally ranked Troy team that sits at No. 24 in the D1Baseball.com rankings.
 
The series, which opens with a 4 p.m. Friday first pitch and features a pair of matinee matchups at 12 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, presents another learning opportunity for the Demons.
 
"They are one of the best teams in the country," second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "They bring with them some things that are extremely difficult to prepare for and some things that are extremely difficult to play against and navigate – mainly the number of left-handed hitters they are able to roll out. They have a tremendous mix of arms – the number of power pitchers they have in bulk and then some pitchability guys. They are top to bottom one of the best teams in the country because they are so well rounded, so well coached, so well prepared. We've really got our work cut out for us."
 
The Demons (2-1) captured their first season-opening series win since 2022 by taking two of three games from Central Arkansas. Troy (3-1), meanwhile, swept Bellarmine on opening weekend before dropping a 7-6 decision to Auburn on Tuesday.
 
Northwestern's midweek opener against ULM, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed because of frigid weather conditions.
 
The Demons and Trojans meet for the second straight season after Northwestern took two of three games from Troy in Natchitoches a season ago. Much like last season, the Trojans enter the weekend as one of the top offenses in the country.
 
Troy averages 10.75 runs per game, which ranks 30^th4 nationally. Not to be outdone, the Demons scored 29 runs in their first three games of the year, placing them 42nd in Division I.
 
"We have to balance out how well prepared we need to be and be ready to compete," Bertrand said. "We have to give them the utmost respect for how good they are, but – at the same time – we have a pretty good ballclub too, and we need to play with some confidence. We need to play with a level of competitiveness that says we are preparing ourselves for the thick of our conference play."
 
The similarities between the Demons and Trojans extend past the offensive numbers.
 
Both teams pitched well in their opening series while mixing in some new faces in the weekend rotation. Of the six probable starting pitchers announced for this weekend's series, only one – Northwestern sophomore right-hander Dylan Marionneaux – started one of the three-game series in Natchitoches a season ago.
 
Even Marionneaux will be in a new role after drawing his first Opening Day start a week ago.
 
Marionneaux (0-1, 3.86) will be followed in the Demon rotation by fellow right-handers Tyler Bryan (0-0, 9.00) and Trent Hillen (1-0, 4.15).
 
"We're going to be able to take and use what we got out of all three of our starting pitchers last week," Bertrand said. "They all faced adversity, overcame it and settled in. They learned how to navigate through a lineup. I'm excited about what we learned about them and what we learned about our bullpen – from the guys who had great performances and the guys who had bounce-back performances.
 
Friday's and Sunday's games will air on ESPN+ while free streaming audio of all three games will be available through www.NSUDemons.com and the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which is available free for all Apple and Android devices.
 
Series probables
Friday: Northwestern State RHP Dylan Marionneaux (0-1, 3.86) at Troy RHP Garrett Gainous (0-0, 6.00)
Saturday: Northwestern State RHP Tyler Bryan (0-0, 9.00) at Troy RHP Noah Edders (1-0, 1.50)
Sunday: Northwestern State RHP Trent Hillen (1-0, 4.15) at Troy RHP Drew Nelson (0-0, 2.25)