NATCHITOCHES – There was one simple explanation for how the Northwestern State baseball team evened its Southland Conference series with HCU on Saturday afternoon.
 
Dylan Marionneaux.
 
The junior right-hander spun his second complete game of the season, limiting the Huskies to six hits in a 2-1 Demon victory at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
"One story – from start to finish, it's Slim," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "What an unbelievable performance. So happy for him in the way the warrior came out. I'm happy for our program and our ball club for how big of a moment that was. We needed one of those. Unbelievable swing by Tommy early and a quality at-bat on the RBI single by Zach White."
 
Marionneaux (4-2) retired the first seven batters he faced, which allowed the Northwestern (23-12, 14-6) offense to scratch out a couple of runs.
 
The first came when Thomas Marsala III lined a 1-0 pitch from David Lopez (4-2) pitch over the left-field wall for his ninth home run of the season and an early 1-0 Demon lead.
 
"Credit to our third-base coach and our hitting coach, Sam Taylor," Marsala said. "We went over his tendencies before the game, and I knew I was going to get a splitter for a ball, he was going to come back with a fastball, and I just put a good swing on it."
 
Two more good two-out swings allowed the Demons to double their lead the next inning as Sebastian Huerta lined a first-pitch double to left-center field before Zach White battled his way to an RBI single.
 
That proved to be more than enough offense for Marionneaux.
 
A junior right-hander from Zachary, Marionneaux consistently worked ahead of the Huskies (15-19, 7-10) en route to setting a career high with 11 strikeouts, becoming the third Demon pitcher this season to post double-figure strikeouts in a game, joining Brody Trosclair and Trent Hillen.
 
Marionneaux threw 24 of 32 first-pitch strikes, keeping him in control of the count throughout.
 
The most impressive part of Marionneaux's outing, however, was not the career high in strikeouts but the number in the walk column.
 
Zero.
 
"It was kind of a surreal moment," Marionneaux said of reaching double-figure strikeouts. "I haven't done that in my career. We have a friendly competition when it comes to strikeouts, so it was fun to do it on the mound. Going off past seasons, I think the no walks was the key thing. It's been a process this year, learning how to attack the zone and focus on that first-pitch strike."
 
While Marionneaux fanned 11, he had plenty of help defensively, especially on the left side.
 
Shortstop Sam Ardoin turned in a sparkling catch while fighting the win while left fielder J.T. Simonelli made several tough catches, including two in the final inning to help aid Marionneaux's cause.
 
"Unbelievable job by Sam in the way he continues to battle and compete, because he's going through it offensively, but when you continue to bring ultimate value to the team, it helps contribute to wins," Bertrand said. "Right now, it's his defense that is contributing to Demon wins. J.T. Simonelli made three or four really tough plays where you have to rotate your hips and fight a swirling wind. I thought we did a better job defensively in having Slim's back overall."
 
The series concludes with a 1 p.m. finale Sunday. Senior right-hander Trent Hillen (2-1, 5.40) takes the mound against a to-be-determined HCU starter.
 
Northwestern State 2, HCU 1
HCU     001 000 000 – 1 6 0
NSU     110 000 00x – 2 7 1
W – Dylan Marionneaux (4-2). L – David Lopez (4-2). 2B – NSU, Sebastian Huerta. HR – NSU, Thomas Marsala III (9). Highlights: HCU, Jeremy Rader 3-4, RBI; Anthony Avalos 2-3. NSU, Brooks Leonard 2-4.
Records: HCU 15-19, 7-10; Northwestern State 23-12, 14-6.