NATCHITOCHES – In some ways, the second five-game week of the season for the Northwestern State baseball team is much like the first.
 
It starts at home, and it features state rival Southern as the second game.
 
The Demons will host ULM at 6 p.m. Tuesday to start the week before traveling to Southern at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Tuesday's game will air on ESPN+ while free streaming audio of Wednesday's game will be available on www.NSUDemons.com and through the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded free for Apple and Android devices.
 
Northwestern (23-17) and ULM (21-19) meet for the third time this season, capping their season series with the second meeting of the year at Brown-Stroud Field. Tuesday's game is sponsored by BOM Bank.
 
The Demons have taken the first two games of the season series in different ways, outslugging ULM 13-10 in Natchitoches on Feb. 21 before shutting out the Warhawks 5-0 in Monroe on March 24.
 
"We're looking forward to it because you're looking at two teams that get a chance to play a game in which they get to not only learn, but they also get to continuously work to improve upon themselves," third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. "We get to work on ourselves, and we get some guys in the ball game that are going to get an opportunity to really work against such a great offense. We know they're going to bring a pitching staff that's going to throw strikes and bring a plethora of arms that are going to continue to challenge us in a way where we are trying to find some offensive consistency."
 
Both teams will send right-handers to the mound as Northwestern will start graduate student Chase Prestwich (1-2, 6.10) while ULM counters with senior Seaver Sheets (1-1, 5.68).
 
The Warhawks bring an offense that is hitting .296 with 89 doubles on the year to Brown-Stroud Field. ULM ranks 13^th nationally and leads the Sun Belt in doubles while its offense averages 7.9 runs per game, second in the Sun Belt and 45^th nationally.
 
Additionally, the Warhawks have swiped 60 bases.
 
Stolen bases have been the calling card for a Southern offense that has helped propel the Jaguars (18-20) on a seven-game win streak. In that time, Southern has averaged 12 runs per game.
 
The Jaguars have stolen 107 bases, ranking 13^th nationally.
 
In the teams' first meeting – a 9-3 Demon win on April 8 – Southern swiped three bases in four attempts.
 
"We've discussed at length what playing a team like Southern does in challenging you because of the type of athletes they have and the athleticism they portray," Bertrand said. "They're going to have bat speed in the batter's box, and they're going to have foot speed on the basepaths. They get to balls quickly defensively. It challenges you to be at your best in playing a very different style of baseball. It challenges you to be at your best and gives you an opportunity to work on things you can learn from – like holding runners and executing pitches – that we can learn from and put into use for the stretch run of the Southland."