NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State baseball team brought momentum home with it from San Antonio this past weekend.
 
The Demons maintained that surge Tuesday night, using a pair of crooked numbers to overwhelm visiting Alcorn State and cruising to a 13-2 victory at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
"No doubt there is difficulty in playing these types of games in the way they unfold," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "I'm really happy with certain elements of that, unhappy with other elements of it. The challenge is, when you find yourself in that type of ballgame, to play against yourself – to play against your own discipline. There were moments in which we did that, and there were moments where we did not do that. We'll get to work on cleaning up the baseball execution things, but nonetheless, a win, 12 hits, 13 runs, really happy with the way Logan Trotter threw the ball the last two innings and really happy for Chase Prestwich."
 
Northwestern (10-7) found its offensive discipline in the second inning as the first five Demons reached against left-hander Jose Cherena (0-2).
 
The key hit in the four-run inning came from third baseman Michael McAloose, who lined a two-run double to left field to erase a 1-0 deficit. The hit extended McAloose's hitting streak to four games, a span in which he is hitting .389 (7-for-18) with a home run and four RBIs.
 
"We stuck to the approach our coaches wanted us to stick to," McAloose said. "First inning, we were figuring out how the pitcher was throwing. We got used to it in the second inning. I listened to what my teammates had to say to me when they came into the dugout, and that's how it worked."
 
The four-run inning answered Alcorn's second-inning run against Northwestern starter Jacob LeBlanc and made a winner out of graduate right-hander Chase Prestwich (1-0), who earned his first victory since April 26, 2024.
 
In his third outing since missing the entire 2025 season because of shoulder surgery, Prestwich worked 1 2-3 scoreless, hitless innings of relief to notch his first relief win since May 18, 2023, against Little Rock.
 
"It's really good to be back," Prestwich said. "I feel a lot more calm, now that I know what it feels like to not be able to throw at all. Every opportunity I get to pitch is just a blessing."
 
Prestwich was one of three Demon relievers to turn in a scoreless outing, topped by Trotter's two scoreless innings to close out the win.
 
A freshman from Anahuac, Texas, Trotter's career-long effort included a 1-2-3 sixth inning and a pair of strikeouts to start the seventh.
 
"All of our young pitchers work so hard every single day," Prestwich said. "They don't take every opportunity for granted. They go out and compete. It was cool seeing Logan come out and compete and pound the zone."
 
Northwestern's second crooked-number inning of the game – a five-run fourth inning – gave Caleb Muffoletto and Trotter plenty of breathing room to close out the Demons' second run-rule victory of the season.
 
The biggest – and loudest – swing of that inning came from Bryce Johnson, who delivered his second three-run home run in as many games – a majestic shot to left-center field that put the Demons up 10-1 and allowed them to cruise to their third straight win.
 
"That's two games in a row with a big blast for the ball club," Bertrand said. "He had the big one in San Antonio, and tonight that blast got momentum back to our side of the field. The homer is obviously a great baseball play and a great swing, but I thought, what it did for the ball club, was it gave us a cushion for some of those pitchers to settle in, and it gave us momentum on our side on a day where, regardless of the score, the game wasn't necessarily being dominated by us. That gave us a little bit of momentum and spark – just Demon baseball and Demon guys."
 
The Demons return to action Friday when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First pitch for the Southland Conference series opener is set for 6 p.m.
 
Northwestern State 13, Alcorn State 2, 7 innings
ASU      010 010 0 – 2 6 2
NSU     042 502 x – 13 11 1
W – Chase Prestwich (1-0). L – Jose Cherena (0-1). 2B – ASU, Keaten Hawk. NSU, Michael McAloose. HR – NSU, Bryce Johnson (2). Highlights: ASU, Rayfield Adams III 2-4, RBI. NSU, Joe Siervo 3-3; Mason Wray 2-3.
Records: Alcorn State 2-14; Northwestern State 10-7.