SAN ANTONIO – Through the first 15 games of the 2026 season, it is clear the Northwestern State baseball team is not afraid to wait until the end of a game to secure a victory – often relishing in the dramatic moments.
Senior center fielder
Joe Siervo added another chapter to his growing key-moment resume Friday evening, delivering a tie-breaking, two-run home run as the Demons held on for a 9-8 victory in the nightcap of a Southland Conference doubleheader at UIW.
The Cardinals grabbed a 13-9 win in the first game, jumping to an early six-run lead and hanging on for the Game 1 win.
"Nothing new at all for the Demons," said third-year head coach
Chris Bertrand, whose team snapped a seven-game losing streak that dated to 2018 at Sullivan Field presented by H-E-B. "I'm proud of the guys for the fight and proud of the competitive spirit, but it's never an easy day to play a doubleheader. It's never an easy day to play an early doubleheader and to play in the conditions that affected the baseball game and the trajectory of some of the baseballs, but when you continue to exhibit certain types of characteristics, you're able to find yourself in a position to do what took place at the end of Game 2."0
The Demons (8-7, 2-3) slugged a season-high five home runs – their most in a game since March 4, 2023 – with Siervo providing the first and last of Northwestern's big swings.
Siervo's two-run home run off starter Hayden Capers gave Northwestern a 2-0 lead in the first while his two-out, two-run blast in the ninth provided the winning swing off reliever Chase Blease (1-1).
Blease entered in the ninth and recorded a first-pitch out before JT Simonelli singled on the first pitch he saw. After another one-pitch out, Siervo took a timeout before hammering Blease's first pitch to left field for the go-ahead swing.
"I don't know what happened," said Siervo, who finished the nightcap 3-for-4 with a career-best five RBIs while becoming the first Demon with 10 total bases in a game since Daunte Stuart tied a school record with 14 against UT Arlington on March 4, 2023.
"I just called timeout and tried to get my thoughts together. I tried not to think about anything and just try to see the ball up, because they've been throwing me a lot of sliders lately. I just ran into it."
Down 4-2 after UIW tallied a pair of two-run innings to start, the Demons used the long ball to get back into the game.
JT Simonelli followed his three-run home run in Game 1 with a one-out solo shot off Capers before
Thomas Marsala III followed with his team-leading fourth of the season to tie the game.
The Demons used three straight single-run innings – scoring in a variety of ways – in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to build a 7-4 lead.
The go-ahead run came in an inning where
Michael McAloose led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a
Zach White sacrifice fly. An inning later, Simonelli singled, went to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a Siervo sacrifice fly.
McAloose's first career home run led off the sixth and gave Northwestern a three-run lead that freshman left-hander
Brody Trosclair (2-0) protected until UIW (8-7, 2-3) took advantage of the Demons' lone error to score three runs and tie the game, setting the stage for Siervo to deliver the Demons' fifth last-at-bat win of the season.
Both of Northwestern's road wins this season have come in its final at-bat.
"We just kept on fighting," Siervo said. "That's kind of our team motto right now – just taking punches and keep on fighting, which is what we've done lately. It was nice to come out and win this one and show that we were going to keep punching."
The Demons kept punching in the opener, despite falling behind 7-1 after two innings.
Northwestern closed the gap to four on a fifth-inning
Sebastian Huerta two-run home run and again on Simonelli's three-run home run in the seventh.
However, each time the Demons sliced into the lead, the Cardinals responded, keeping Northwestern at bay.
"I thought between the two ball games, two things we did a better job of in Game 2 was we capitalized more on the momentum swings and took advantage of more of our opportunities," Bertrand said. "I thought we did a really good job of responding. All of Game 2 – the back-and-forth nature of it – does require a response, and I thought today, our guys were responders, which is a pillar of which we are built upon."
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Saturday with a single game. Northwestern will send senior right-hander
Trent Hillen (1-1, 5.93) to the mound against UIW's EJ Garcia (1-1, 3.32).
UIW 13-8, Northwestern State 9-9
Game 1
NSU 101 120 310 – 9 12 0
UIW 252 030 10x – 13 15 0
W – Ashton Perkins (1-0). L –
Carter White (0-3). 2B – NSU,
Joe Siervo. UIW, Tony DeJesus, Jake Weaver, Preston Newberry. 3B – UIW, Weaver, Colin Cymbalista. HR – NSU, JT Simonelli (2),
Sebastian Huerta (2). UIW, Newberry (3), Trent Rucker (4), Cole Tabor (4). Highlights: NSU,
Thomas Marsala III 3-5, 2 RBIs; Simonelli 2-4, HR, 4 RBIs;
Sam Ardoin 2-5. UIW, Newberry 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI; Weaver 4-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBIs; Ayden Alsobrooks 2-5; Rucker 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs.
Game 2
NSU 202 111 002 – 9 14 1
UIW 220 000 031 – 8 11 0
W –
Brody Trosclair (2-0). L – Chase Blease (1-1). S –
Lucas Harrington (2). 2B – NSU,
Michael McAloose,
Colin Rains. UIW, Drake Anderson, Preston Newberry. 3B – UIW, Jake Weaver, Colin Cymbalista. HR – NSU,
Joe Siervo 2 (2),
Thomas Marsala III (4), JT Simonelli (3), McAloose (1). UIW, Drake Anderson (3). Highlights: NSU, Simonelli 3-5, HR, RBI; Marsala III 3-5, HR, RBI; Siervo 3-4, 2B, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs; McAloose 2-4, 2B, HR, RBI. UIW, Newberry 3-5, 2B, 2 RBIs; Anderson 2-4, 2B, HR, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 8-7, 2-3; UIW 8-7, 2-3.
