Box Score SAN ANTONIO – Fittingly, it took extra innings for the Northwestern State baseball team to accomplish something eight years in the making.
 
Bryce Johnson's three-run home run snapped a 12^th-inning tie and the Demons held on for a 7-6 victory against Incarnate Word on Saturday to clinch the Southland Conference series at Sullivan Field presented by H-E-B.
 
It marked the first time the Demons (9-7, 3-3) to win a series in San Antonio since the 2018 season.
 
"It's a Demon type of win on a Demon type of day, and we did it in a Demon type of way," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "I continue to be the proudest leader of men because of the things we continue to exhibit. We're going to continue to fight. We're going to continue to put our fists up, and we're going to continue to stay in it. Our guys exhibit grit and a never-say-die attitude. As long as it takes, whatever it takes, we're always going to figure out a way. That's what we enjoy the most – our guys want to be in that fire, because they are proud to be people who figure out a way to get it done."
 
Johnson jumped the first pitch from UIW reliever Fawster Voytko (1-2) and drilled it out to left field, slicing it through a crosswind for his first home run of the season.
 
It capped a day where Johnson collected a career-best three hits and scored the tying run in the eighth inning after hitting a leadoff double.
 
"A couple of at-bats before that, I was letting the ball get too deep," Johnson said. "I sold out for the fastball, saw a good pitch and tried to win a game. I knew I had that one in the bag."
 
Johnson's blast stood in direct opposition to how the Demons pulled even in the eighth inning.
 
Johnson followed his leadoff double to left field by advancing to third on a productive ground out to first base by Michael McAloose and scored on Sam Ardoin's chopper against a drawn-in infield.
 
It was Ardoin's second RBI on the day, following his squeeze bunt that brought Johnson home in the second inning.
 
"
 
Northwestern starter Trent Hillen settled in after UIW (8-8, 2-4) scratched out a pair of two-run innings in the first and second to build a 4-2 lead. Hillen recovered to blank the Cardinals across the next four innings before turning the ball over to Wesley Marien, who spun four shutout innings of two-hit relief with four strikeouts.
 
It matched Marien's four shutout innings of relief in a 15-inning win at Central Arkansas on Feb. 21.
 
"We talk a lot about learning, and we talk about pulling from those experiences," Bertrand said. "Wes has been in that situation before. His ability to find a calm mentally and put those lessons learned and that value was pulled and call upon those experiences to deliver for the team is exactly what we talk about – who we want to be and what we want to be."
 
The Demons held on for the win as Caden Fiveash (2-0) got Cole Tabor to fly out to center field after Tony DeJesus' two-run home run cut into the Northwestern lead.
 
Fiveash worked two innings, working around a leadoff walk to strand the winning run at second base in the 11^th inning to set up Johnson's blast, which gave the Demons their sixth final at-bat win of the season.
 
"We're not going to give up," Johnson said. "I wish it didn't have to be that way, but we're not giving up. We'll keep going as long as we need to. We'll stay as long as we need to. We know our bullpen has our backs."
 
The Demons return to action Tuesday night when they host Alcorn State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
Northwestern State 7, UIW 6, 12 innings
NSU     110 100 010 003 – 7 14 0
UIW     220 000 000 002 – 6 10 1
W – Caden Fiveash (2-0). L – Fawster Voytko (1-2). 2B – NSU, Thomas Marsala III, Bryce Johnson, JT Simonelli, Michael McAloose. HR – NSU, Johnson (1). UIW, Tony DeJesus (3). Highlights: NSU, Brooks Leonard 3-6, RBI; Johnson 3-6, 2B, HR, 3 RBIs; McAloose 3-6. UIW, Preston Newberry 2-6; Jake Weaver 2-5, RBI; Trent Rucker 2-5.
Records: Northwestern State 9-7, 3-3; UIW 8-8, 2-4.