NATCHITOCHES – Balance for the Northwestern State baseball team Friday night came in the form of newcomers, a freshman and a plenty of pitching.
 
Joe Siervo capped his Demon debut with a walk-off single in the 14^th inning as Northwestern outlasted former Southland Conference rival UT Arlington in the season opener at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
"These dudes are punchers," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "We've said it for a long time, and they exhibited it on opening it. It sets the tone for what to expect when our guys take the field. We are aware that's not the sexiest baseball, and we have some details in the game that we need to clean up, but nonetheless, the offense and the position players continued to punch. What a tremendous job by the pitchers and by (pitching coach) Dan (Hlad). We played 14 innings and put up 12 zeroes and two ones. Unbelievable job by the guys who took the mound and by Dan Hlad in the game he called."
 
Through seven-plus innings, it appeared the Demons (1-0) were going to squander the few chances they cobbled together against UTA right-hander Caylon Dygert, who scattered four hits across six shutout innings, and Jacob Havern, who worked a scoreless seventh.
 
That changed with one swing from newcomer Grant Comeaux.
 
A Louisiana Tech transfer, Comeaux turned a 2-1 pitch from Havern into a towering, game-tying home run to left field. Comeaux's blast made him the first Demon to homer in his Northwestern debut since Rocco Gump on Feb. 16, 2024.
 
While the newcomers in the lineup produced the moments at the plate, four returning pitchers limited the Mavericks (0-1) to nine hits across 14 innings while surrendering just one earned run.
 
Carter White tied a career high with six strikeouts in five-plus innings before the trio of Bryce Leonard, Wesley Marien and Jacob LeBlanc (1-0) combined for nine innings of relief without allowing an earned run.
 
LeBlanc notched the win after working three shutout innings of relief despite allowing the leadoff hitter to reach in each inning. A sophomore left-hander, LeBlanc benefited from the defensive play of the game, turned in by freshman Brock Davis.
 
After Zach Mazoch led off the 12^th inning with a single, Davis crashed the plate expecting a bunt from pinch hitter Larry Haskins. With Davis approximately 50 feet from home plate, Haskins swung and smoked a one-hop grounder directly at Davis, who turned it into a momentum-killing 4-6-3 double play.
 
"That kid came in and he showed true grit," LeBlanc said of Davis, who had his first career hit – a double – with one out in the bottom of the 12^th. "He's just a baller. He gets after it every day. You reap what you sow. You keep putting stock in the good things, and the good Lord rewards you. That's what happened."
 
Davis was in the middle of the game-winning rally against UTA left-hander Merek Sears (0-1).
 
After Colin Rains led off with a single, Sears retired Lane Lusk on a popout before walking Davis to push Rains into scoring position.
 
Siervo then delivered a redemptive single to center that Xander McAfee could not handle cleanly, allowing Rains to race home with the winning run in Northwestern's first walk-off win since a 2-1, 10-inning win against Lamar on April 18, 2025.
 
"With the lefty on the mound, I wanted to move up in the box," Siervo said. "He threw a lot of change-ups, so I was trying to see a change-up. He flipped the script on me and went fastball. I just hit it up the middle, stayed through it and we won."
 
The series continues Saturday with a 3 p.m. start that has been moved up because of the threat of inclement weather later Saturday evening. Left-hander Ty Zahradnik (1-3, 5.40 in 2025) takes the mound for UTA against Northwestern right-hander Dylan Marionneaux (4-4, 5.01).
 
Northwestern State 3, UT Arlington 2, 14 innings
UTA      001 000 010 000 00 – 2 9 0
NSU     000 000 020 000 01 – 3 8 1
One out when winning run scored.
W – Jacob LeBlanc (1-0. L – Merek Sears (0-1). 2B – UTA, Preston Knott. NSU, JT Simonelli; Brock Davis. 3B – UTA, Preston Knott. NSU, Sam Ardoin. HR – NSU, Grant Comeaux (1). Highlights: UTA, Knott 2-5, 2B, 3B, RBI; Xavier Melendez 4-6, RBI. NSU, Joe Siervo 2-7, RBI; Comeaux 2-5, HR, 2 RBIs.
Records: UT Arlington 0-1; Northwestern State 1-0.