NEW ORLEANS – The longest road trip of the season thus far for the Northwestern State baseball team has started on the right foot as it winds its way to the finish.
 
The Demons cap their seven-game road swing with a three-game Southland Conference series at New Orleans that begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Maestri Field. The series also includes afternoon games on Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
 
All three games will air on ESPN+ with free streaming audio available through www.NSUDemons.com and the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded free for all Apple and Android devices.
 
"The lessons that we have learned and are putting to use are putting the ball games in our favor," said second-year head coach Chris Bertrand, whose team is 3-1 in the first four games of the trip. "I'm so proud of the guys for that. This week is another natural-surface field like we played on at Corpus and at Grambling. We've learned how to acclimate and learn the environment. That's a critical part of that, and our guys have done that."
 
The Demons (12-8, 5-4) have recovered from a three-game sweep at Southeastern Louisiana to open Southland Conference play to sweep UIW and take two of three from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
Northwestern added a 12-9 win at Grambling on Tuesday night – one that stood in direct opposition to how the Demons captured the series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
In that series, Northwestern pitched to a 2.08 ERA – their second straight SLC series with a sub-3.00 ERA.
 
That streak will be put to the test against a New Orleans (11-8, 5-4) team that is hitting .321 and averaging 8.1 runs per game. Coupled with a ballpark that is among the most weather-affected in the league, the Demons could be in for a weekend of differing environments.
 
"We understand the type of offensive team we are going to face, so hopefully we can continue to pitch the baseball in the same way we did last weekend," Bertrand said. "In 24 of the 26 innings we pitched, we put up a zero. Those were incredible individual performances by our guys. You learn what wins in those environments.
 
"Same thing against Grambling, where we learned no lead is safe. We learned what is winning pitching execution, and we learned what is not so much. Hopefully, we can learn from the success and the failures and put it to use."
 
After playing Tuesday night without a pair of seniors who had started 35 of a possible 38 games to begin the season, the Demons will be back at full strength with the return of center fielder Reese Lipoma (.338, 12 RBIs) and Daniel Burroway (.292, 5 HRs, 20 RBIs).
 
"It's a plus in baseball and a plus for the family," Bertrand said. "At no point, under any circumstances, do you want to be without them, because you understand what they have poured into this program. Reese has poured himself into the Demons in the past two years and really helped us lay the foundation. He's helped us stack these bricks.
 
"Burroway, the same way. He trusted us and has developed his game. Look at the start he had in the first 20 games last year and the start he's had this year. Look at what he's done. He's learning those life lessons, improving, growing and developing."
 
Series Probables
Friday: Northwestern State RHP Dylan Marionneaux (1-2, 2.70) at New Orleans RHP Grant Edwards (0-1, 5.09)
Saturday: Northwestern State RHP Tyler Bryan (1-2, 8.22) at New Orleans RHP Skylar Jones (3-0, 5.65)
Sunday: Northwestern State RHP Trent Hillen (3-1, 3.38) at New Orleans RHP Matthew Bienvenu (0-1, 7.08)