Box Score EDINBURG, Texas – Being complementary in two phases was enough for the Northwestern State baseball team in its Southland Conference series opener at UTRGV on Thursday night.
 
Led by a career night from Ethan Menard, the Demons posted a season-high in runs and rolled to a 17-9 victory against the homestanding Vaqueros.
 
"I'm proud of our offense, especially the way we were able to string together quality at-bats from the middle of the game until the ending part of the game," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "From Menard's swing on, the quality of the at-bat and the focus within the at-bat got better. You see that you're able to pressurize when you're able to string them together in an inning."
 
Menard delivered two game-altering swings as he collected a career-high six RBIs, becoming the first Demon to drive in six runs in a game since Braden Benton did so against UTRGV in the second game of an April 6, 2025, doubleheader in Natchitoches.
 
Menard's first career home run was a game-tying, three-run blast off UTRGV starter Sergio Lopez (2-4) in the fourth inning. Menard's rocket to left field opened one of four multi-run innings for Northwestern, which scored its most runs against a Division I team since a 17-8 win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on May 7, 2023.
 
In the seventh inning, Menard's two-run, two-out single helped the Demons (19-10, 11-5) break open a 5-4 game and started a five-run surge with two outs as Michael McAloose followed with his third home run of the season – a three-run shot to left.
 
"Just having a crowd like this gets the blood flowing," said Menard, who added an RBI single in the eighth inning to match his career high with three hits. "The guys really showed up. The pitching staff held on the back end. It was driving to keep doing good and to keep getting their back at the plate."
 
The Demons continued to pressure the Vaqueros (14-16, 9-7) in the eighth inning, putting the game away with a seven spot that featured a run of four straight RBI singles from the 6-9 hitters in the Demon order.
 
McAloose was involved in that streak, starting it with a flare single to right as he drove in the final of his career-high four RBIs.
 
"We stuck to our approaches," McAloose said. "They had great ABs. We started stacking ABs, especially with two outs. Everything started clicking, and we started doing it for each other."
 
The Demon offense picked up freshman left-hander Brody Trosclair (5-4), who grinded his way through five innings, allowing four runs (three earned).
 
Junior right-hander Kevin Robinson followed with a scoreless sixth inning, allowing the Northwestern offense to erupt in the seventh and eighth innings for the second straight game. In their past two seventh and two eighth innings dating to Sunday's game at Nicholls, the Demons have scored 18 runs.
 
"That's the thing – gutsy and gritty," Bertrand said. "That's us being complementary in the way we picked each other up. Our offense picked up the way we gave up some of those runs where the defense was not complementary tonight. That's a part of it. The defense didn't have the best night in some tough conditions, but that complementary nature – at times you're looking for all three, but at times you can be complementary if one or the other is able to pick it up. The way Brody closed his outing and how Kevin got the hold and how the offense picked it up meant the Demons got to complement each other even though all three phases weren't going. That's the sign of a good team. You learn how to win games in multitudes of ways."
  
The series continues Friday at 6:30 p.m. Northwestern will send junior right-hander Dylan Marionneaux (2-2, 5.01) to the mound against a to-be-determined UTRGV starting pitcher.
 
Northwestern State 17, UTRGV 9
NSU     000 320 570 – 17 16 1
UTRGV               102 010 050 – 9 14 1
W – Brody Trosclair (5-1). L – Sergio Lopez (2-4). 2B – NSU, Brooks Leonard. UTRGV, Armani Raygoza. HR – NSU, Ethan Menard (1), Michael McAloose (3). UTRGV, Easton Moomau (3), Andy Chapa (2), Julius Ramirez (8). Highlights: NSU, Brooks Leonard 4-5, 2B, Thomas Marsala III 2-6; Menard 3-6, HR, 6 RBIs; McAloose 2-5, HR, 4 RBIs; Sebastian Huerta 2-5, RBI. UTRGV, Rocco Garza Gongora 2-6; Raygoza 2-3, 2B, RBI; Ramirez 3-4, HR, 3 RBIs; Moomau 3-4, HR, 3 RBIs; Chapa 2-5, HR, RBI;
Records: Northwestern State 19-10, 11-5; UTRGV 14-16, 9-7.