NATCHITOCHES – As the Northwestern State baseball team wraps up its season-long , six-game homestand, it does so hoping to learn how to play with momentum.
 
Coming off a three-game Southland Conference sweep of UIW, the Demons start the second of four double-midweek games this season by hosting Grambling at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
 
Northwestern ends its longest homestand of the season by hosting Mississippi Valley State at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
 
"What you truly want to do is take advantage of the opportunity you have to stay on track with winning ways and the momentum you have built," second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "This is an opportunity to continue to learn because you have a chance to get some different guys in the game from a pitching standpoint. You get some guys at-bats in different ways. We pay the ultimate respect to both opponents coming in. The Demons will continue to work on ourselves in preparation for our back-to-back Southland road trips."
 
Northwestern's sweep of UIW pushed its win streak to four games, starting with an 18-1 win against LeTourneau this past Tuesday.
 
The Demons (8-7, 3-3) moved back to .500 in league play with three very different victories.
 
Northwestern rallied for a 5-4, 10-inning win Friday against UIW before turning nine two-out runs into a 12-4 Saturday win. The Demons capped the sweep by holding on for a 5-4 victory in the finale, surviving a three-run ninth inning from the Cardinals.
 
Grambling (4-10) enters the matchup following a three-game sweep at Houston. The Tigers have faced four power conference opponents in their first 14 games, having also lost 14-3 at Arkansas on Feb. 25.
 
The Tigers feature one of the most effective running games in the country, swiping 30 bases in 32 tries. That offense presents a much different challenge for the Demons, who have allowed just 12 stolen bases in their 15 games.
 
Similar to Grambling, fellow Southwestern Athletic Conference member Mississippi Valley State is a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen bases through five games.
 
The pressure both teams put on a defense isn't limited to just stealing bases.
 
"We have to have the ability to hold runners," Bertrand said. "Our outfielders will be forced to take good angles to baseballs and to get the baseball in cleanly. The different style of play allows us to get experience and for our entire team to work at another phase of the game."
 
Northwestern will send sophomore right-hander Kevin Robinson (2-0, 7.71) to the mound in Tuesday's game. Bertrand said junior right-hander Brandon Carter (0-0, 9.00) or freshman right-hander Wesley Marien (0-0, 0.00) are options to start Wednesday's game – part of that decision could be how the matchup with Grambling unfolds.
 
"Regardless of whether it's a Tuesday game or a Friday conference game, regardless of who's in the other dugout, at all times throwing strikes, playing clean defense and executing within the framework how we want to take at-bats is what we're about," Bertrand said. "You have to do that every single day to be a consistently good baseball team."