Plenty of familiar faces and a single new one populate Northwestern State’s 2023 baseball schedule.
Head coach Bobby Barbier announced his team’s schedule Wednesday, a slate that features 23 home games, 20 matchups with in-state foes and a pair of weekend tournaments.
In addition to a second straight season with a 24-game Southland Conference schedule, the Demons have loaded their non-conference slate with typically challenging opponents.
The Demons will play 10 games against teams that reached the 2022 NCAA Tournament with seven of those coming in non-conference matchups. The highlight of that group are a four-game series at Pac-12 member Oregon from March 24-26.
Those four games will mark the Demons’ first action against a Pac-12 member since the 2018 NCAA Corvallis Regional matchup against eventual national champion Oregon State.
Additionally, NSU will have a home-and-home series against Louisiana Tech and a single game at LSU (May 9) among its games against NCAA Tournament participants.
The Demons’ non-conference weekends see them playing in the South Alabama tournament that features the host Jaguars, UAB and Eastern Kentucky on opening weekend Feb. 17-19.
The next weekend takes the Demons back to Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, which hosted the Southland Conference Tournament for the better part of a decade, for the WAC-Southland Challenge from Feb. 24-26.
“We are really excited about this year’s schedule,” said head coach Bobby Barbier, who begins his seventh season at the helm of his alma mater. “We work every year to challenge our team in non-conference to get them ready for what they will see in a very good Southland.”
NSU sandwiches its home opener – a Feb. 21 matchup with LSU-Alexandria – between the two tournaments. Following those tournaments, the Demons play three straight home weekends, hosting UT Arlington (March 3-5), Alabama A&M (March 10-12) and Little Rock (March 17-19) ahead of the trip to Oregon.
Once back from the West Coast, the Demons open Southland Conference play at New Orleans from March 31-April 2.
The Demons’ first home SLC series comes Easter weekend against Lamar (April 6-8). NSU also has home conference series against UIW (April 21-23), Nicholls (April 28-30) and against defending regular-season champion McNeese (May 12-14).
In addition to New Orleans, the Demons take SLC road trips to Houston Christian (April 14-16), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (May 5-7) and to defending league tournament champion Southeastern (May 18-20) to cap the regular season.
After a two-week format a year ago, the Southland Conference Tournament will revert to its pre-2022 format and will take place at McNeese’s Joe Miller Ballpark from May 24-28.
Season tickets for Northwestern State baseball are available for $225 (VIP seating) and $125 (reserved). For VIP seating, $100 of the cost is donated to the Demons Unlimited Foundation.
Single-game tickets will go on sale Feb. 1. For more information, visit www.NSUTickets.com or call 318-357-4268.
