COMMERCE, Texas – Northwestern State held the lead in fifth inning of both games of Friday's doubleheader against East Texas A&M, but saw both slip away in the late stages resulting in two more losses in close games.
 
A trio of home runs in the series opener produced enough offense for the Lions (9-25, 5-6) to erase a three-run deficit for a 5-4 win in game one. A conference game-high eight walks from Demon (3-30, 0-11) pitching in game two opened the door for the Lions to take the series victory, 4-3, on a walk-off double.
 
NSU has now lost seven conference games by two runs or less.
 
The teams wrap up the weekend set with a 12 p.m. first pitch on Saturday afternoon. The game will air live on ESPN+.
 
Game One – East Texas A&M 5, NSU 4
 
Each of the first four runs of the day came courtesy of the long ball.
 
The Lions took a one-run lead on a solo home run in the bottom of the second from catcher Aaliyah Wilcox to start the inning, a lead they held through three full innings.
 
The Demons' first hit of the game, a sharp single up the middle from Aly Delafield, sparked a two-out rally that gave them their first lead of the day. Brynn Daniel pulled a 2-1 pitch down the left field line for her first career home run, scoring Delafield and giving NSU the 2-1 lead.
 
Daniel's long ball was the second of four straight hits by the Demons with two out in the frame, but the round tripper was the only one to bring across any runs.
 
NSU only held the lead for two batters into the bottom of the inning as the second solo home run of the game from the Lions, this one from Tatum Wright, evened the game at two runs each.
 
The bats stayed hot though for both teams in the sixth as the Demons responded with two runs in the fifth to regain the lead, only to see the Lions respond with a three spot in the bottom of the inning, the big blow coming on a two-run home run from Emma Rodrigues that made it a 5-4 Lion lead.
 
DJ Lynch added to her team lead with an RBI single in the fifth while Daniel picked up her third run driven in of the game on a sacrifice fly two batters later that put the Demons ahead 4-2 at the time.
 
As they have done in all the previous games that came down to the final innings, the Demons got the go-ahead run on base in the top of the seventh after Lynch's second hit of the game, coming with one out, and a walk to Daniel with two out. The tying run reached third base on a wild pitch and put the go-ahead run at second but a strikeout for the final out left both runners standing on the bases.
 
Game Two – East Texas A&M 4, NSU 3
 
The Demons scored single runs in each of the first three innings of the game using small ball, big swings and some manufacturing to take the three-run lead.
 
Sophia Livers drew a leadoff walk to start the game and eventually stole third before a 24-minute rain delay paused the game. Two pitches after the resumption of play DJ Lynch hit a sinking liner to short that skipped away from the first baseman allowing Livers to score.
 
The RBI was the 15^th of the season for Lynch and seventh in conference play, both team highs.
 
NSU's second-inning run took much less time to come across the plate. Savannah Coleman joined Brynn Daniel from earlier in the day picking up her first career home run on a solo shot over the wall in right field. It came just nine pitches after she threw out a runner trying to steal second on a strikeout-throw out double play to end the bottom of the first.
 
With two home runs on the day, the Demons are just two long balls shy of the season total from 2024, with still 17 games remaining.
 
Livers played a hand in Northwestern's third run in the third inning, starting the frame with a leadoff double. She tagged and scored on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Daniel, her fourth RBI of the day, that gave NSU a 3-0 lead.
 
A walk and a base hit in the bottom of the fourth put two runners on for a deep double to center from the Lions' Hailey Montemayor, scoring both runners on the play making it a 3-2 affair.
 
The Demons walked eight batters in the game, the most in a conference game this year and second most of any game this year. There was at least one walk issued to the Lions in each of the final four innings of the game, including the tying run in the sixth and winning run in the seventh.
 
A walk plus a wild pitch and passed ball put the tying run at third base in the sixth inning. She scored on a single through the left side. A leadoff walk in the seventh and steal of second put the winning run in scoring position in the seventh for the game-winning double to right.
 
While the Lions took advantage of the free passes in the late stages, the Demons did not.
 
Still up 3-2 in the fifth, two straight walks started the inning and turned the lineup over to the top in the process. An infield single was only able to advance the runners 60 feet before a baserunning mistake led to the second out. And despite a third walk in the inning, the Demons were unable to extend their lead.