CONWAY, Arkansas – The Northwestern State baseball team's tour of former Southland Conference rivals hits the road for the first time in the 2026 season Friday afternoon.
 
The Demons open a four-game weekend series at Central Arkansas beginning at 4 p.m. Friday. Streaming audio of the series, which also includes a 12 p.m. Saturday doubleheader and a 1 p.m. Sunday matinee, can be heard on www.NSUDemons.com. Saturday's doubleheader will air on ESPN+.
 
"I'm really happy with what we have discovered about our ball club over the first four games," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "We've learned so much about how to get in a rhythm and a flow. We've learned about guys coming off the bench. We've learned quite a bit about our pitching staff. We've learned we haven't necessarily played our best brand of baseball from a physical execution standpoint, but we are exhibiting some pretty cool characteristics that we want to be cornerstones of our culture.
 
"At the end of the day, regardless of what it looks like to the eye or what the aesthetic of it is, our guys are punchers and fighters. Our guys have some really cool grit about them that I think is going to pay dividends down the line as we're able to clean up and mix quality baseball execution with the amazing, mature characteristics they've shown."
 
Off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1999, Northwestern has flashed the ability to win tight games highlighted by strong pitching as well as slugfests. The Demons have rallied from deficits in the sixth inning or later three times to collect victories this season.
 
Now, Bertrand's team hits the road for the first time in 2026 and will face a Central Arkansas (2-2) squad in a stadium where the Demons have not played since 2021 when UCA was a Southland Conference member.
 
For Northwestern, this weekend marks the lone scheduled four-game series of the season. Saturday's 12 p.m. doubleheader is the lone twinbill on the Demon schedule.
 
"Again, we check that box of another lesson learned by the time we get to the end of the weekend," Bertrand said. "That's why we do a lot of this stuff. You deal with it in the moment and how it presents itself. However, the long-term goal and vision is that we want to take every opportunity and every experience and pull value from it and use that value down the line. In the conference tournament model we have – and in the way when we get this program to where it needs to be and we're able to play in a (national) postseason – you're looking at a Saturday or a Sunday doubleheader. Some of those things are going to pay dividends later on."
 
The Demons will look for the immediate dividends from the season-opening, four-game winning streak to pay off against a Bear team that split its season-opening, four-game series with ULM.
 
Central Arkansas stole seven bases in nine tries against ULM while averaging 5.4 runs per game. UCA won the middle games of the series, 12-11 and 6-4, but dropped the bookend games by a combined 21-4 margin.
 
"We're grateful for the opportunity of playing against people we have a tremendous amount of respect for and guys who are going to challenge us," Bertrand said. "You look at the way our first four games have played out and how their four games against ULM played out. We know from (Tuesday) night how we played against ULM and what to expect. We're so grateful for the opportunity to go up against guys, regardless of what the scoreboard is going to say at the end of four games – and we hope the Demons are on the good end of some of those – where it's an opportunity to make our team better.
 
"They've got some scrappiness to them, a little more team speed. They've drastically improved their pitching staff. They did those things the same way we did in the offseason. We're preparing ourselves for a very balanced fight in an opportunity to go out and make ourselves better by competing against quality baseball men."
 
Series Probables:
Friday: NSU LHP Carter White (0-0, 1.80) at Central Arkansas RHP Denver Hamilton (Season Debut)
Saturday: NSU RHP Dylan Marionneaux (0-0, 3.60) at Central Arkansas RHP Caden Meeler (1-0, 7.20)
Saturday: NSU RHP Kevin Robinson (0-0, 0.00) at Central Arkansas RHP Caide White (0-0, 4.76)
Sunday: NSU RHP Trent Hillen (0-0, 1.80) at Central Arkansas TBD