The first official day of practice for the 2018 Northwestern State baseball team had the feel of a Friday night game.

Highlighted by a well-pitched, seven-inning scrimmage, the Demons took the field as a unit for the first time Friday afternoon, leaving second-year head coach Bobby Barbier with plenty of positive takeaways.

“It’s good to get back out here,” Barbier said. “We talk about working every day, but the first day of practice does mean something. It’s exciting. We came out with good energy. We played really good defense in the scrimmage, and that’s exciting to me. It’s good to see the product we worked for to this point.”

Northwestern State pitchers were stellar during the scrimmage allowing just one run that came on a deflected RBI single.

The scrimmage followed a typical day of practice for the Demons, who open the regular season in three weeks against Binghamton. First pitch for the Feb. 16 season opener is set for 6:30 p.m.

Barbier praise his team’s dedication across the holiday break as Friday marked the first time since wrapping up the Rhodes Properties Fall World Series in early November the team took the field together.

“We don’t get much time to get them ready so you have to rely on those guys, especially pitchers, doing things on their own,” Barbier said. “It seems like they did a good job. Guys came back in good shape. It was a good first day.”