BEAUMONT, Texas – As veterans of one-run games, the Northwestern State baseball team found itself in a very familiar situation Thursday afternoon in the opening game of the Southland Conference Tournament.
This time, the Demons jumped to an early lead then played complementary baseball to hold off third-seeded UTRGV, 6-5, in the first game of the Beaumont Bracket at Vincent-Beck Stadium. With the win, the Demons advance to play the winner of Thursday's matchup between No. 7 Stephen F. Austin and No. 2 Lamar at 6 p.m. Friday.
"We started in a way where we grabbed momentum early, which is something we've been in search of," third-year head coach
Chris Bertrand said. "To have it happen early and to be able to hold it is a very critical part of the game. We scored more runs today than we scored in the series against McNeese to close the year. We talk about those life lessons and what we want to learn. They put what we learned in the past couple of weeks into action today. The offensive approach was awesome, and we battled our tails off on the pitcher's mound and defensively to play complementary baseball, which is something else we've been in search of."
Thursday's win marked the second straight year for the Demons (26-24) to win their SLC Tournament opener. Unlike the start of the 2025 event when Northwestern walked off McNeese, Northwestern found its offensive groove early against the Vaqueros (26-28).
The Demons jumped to a 2-0 lead, cashing in
Brooks Leonard's leadoff hit by pitch and 22
nd stolen base of the year on an
Ethan Menard RBI single. JT Simonelli's two-out RBI double then doubled the lead.
After UTRGV evened the game in their half, the Demons had the biggest offensive response of the game.
Northwestern answered the Vaqueros' two runs with three of their own – two coming on a one-out home run from junior shortstop
Sam Ardoin, who turned an 0-1 slider from UTRGV starter Kike Cienfuegos (7-3) into a tie-breaking, two-run homer.
"It was very important for us to get off to a good start as an offense," Ardoin said. "We really wanted to scratch one run an inning. Going into that at-bat, I definitely felt it was imperative to put the ball in play hard. Thankfully, something good happened. I was on the heater my first pitch, swung through it, but it felt good. I didn't change anything. I was staying on time for the heater, but once the slider popped up, I put my best swing on it and once it hit the barrel, I knew it had a chance. It was either going to be a flyout or keep going."
The Vaqueros continued to pressure Demon starter
Dylan Marionneaux, a first-team All-Southland selection who went four innings and left with a 6-4 lead courtesy of the five early runs and a
Thomas Marsala III RBI grounder in the fourth.
From there, the Demon bullpen and defense played their roles to near perfection.
Sophomores
Jacob LeBlanc (4-2) and
Wesley Marien (third save) covered the final five innings, allowing four hits and a run.
LeBlanc provided some of the biggest pitches of the game, stranding the bases loaded in the sixth inning after the first two Vaqueros reached base as the Demon staff stranded 10 UTRGV runners.
"Credit to (pitching coach) Dan (Hlad) for telling us before the game, no matter who goes out there and pitches, we have a great chance to win game one as long as everyone goes out and fills up the zone," LeBlanc said. "Even when (Marionneaux) struggled, he got back in the zone and showed us that they would struggle to put the ball in play and there was a lot of swing and miss. Just hold the line for the team."
The trio of Demon pitchers had plenty of help defensively as both second baseman
Zach White and center fielder
Joe Siervo came up with run-saving catches. Left fielder JT Simonelli tracked down a fly ball to start the ninth that could have been a leadoff double as well.
White ranged far to his left and spun around to retire the final batter of the fifth inning while Siervo's sliding catch of a sinking Chayton Fischer liner in the eighth kept the Vaqueros from halving a two-run Demon lead.
"At first, off the bat, I thought, 'Oh, no,'" LeBlanc said. "I saw (Siervo) busting his tail to get to the ball. There's never a doubt with guys like that. Our whole team is like that, so I know when we're in the game's most critical moments, everyone's going to put the team first."
The Demons left eight men on base, including three in the final two innings with a chance to extend a two-run lead.
Following Siervo's sliding grab, Marien entered and got Rocco Garza Gongora to line out to second base to strand a runner on second. Marien allowed a sacrifice fly in the ninth before inducing a game-ending grounder from Diego Villescas to White at second to send the Demons to the winners' bracket.
"We really liked the matchups," Bertrand said of the decision to go to Marien for the final four outs. "That's two totally different looks with LeBlanc from the left side and then Wes, who pitches with a totally different style with that ride heater and some of the different things he has in his repertoire. It was a great job by Dan to give them a different look."
Northwestern State 6, UTRGV 5
NSU 230 100 000 – 6 13 0
UTRGV 202 000 001 – 5 9 0
W –
Jacob LeBlanc (4-2). L – Kike Cienfuegos (7-3). S –
Wesley Marien (3). 2B – NSU, JT Simonelli 2,
Ethan Menard. UTRGV, Armani Raygoza 3, Rocco Garza Gongora 2, Damien Whitfield, Easton Moomau. HR – NSU,
Sam Ardoin (1). Highlights: NSU,
Brooks Leonard 2-4; Menard 3-5, 2B, 2 RBIs; Simonelli 2-5, 2 2B, RBI;
Zach White 2-3. UTRGV, Garza Gongora 2-4, 2 2B; Raygoza 3-3, 3 2B.
Records: Northwestern State 26-24, UTRGV 26-28.
