TROY, Alabama – Armed with a series victory to start the season, the Northwestern State baseball team hits the road for the first time in the 2025 campaign.
What awaits the Demons on their first trip of the year is a Troy team that sits at No. 24 in the D1Baseball.com rankings.
The series, which opens with a 4 p.m. Friday first pitch and features a pair of matinee matchups at 12 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, presents another learning opportunity for the Demons.
“They are one of the best teams in the country,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “They bring with them some things that are extremely difficult to prepare for and some things that are extremely difficult to play against and navigate – mainly the number of left-handed hitters they are able to roll out. They have a tremendous mix of arms – the number of power pitchers they have in bulk and then some pitchability guys. They are top to bottom one of the best teams in the country because they are so well rounded, so well coached, so well prepared. We’ve really got our work cut out for us.”
The Demons (2-1) captured their first season-opening series win since 2022 by taking two of three games from Central Arkansas. Troy (3-1), meanwhile, swept Bellarmine on opening weekend before dropping a 7-6 decision to Auburn on Tuesday.
The Demons and Trojans meet for the second straight season after Northwestern took two of three games from Troy in Natchitoches a season ago. Much like last season, the Trojans enter the weekend as one of the top offenses in the country.
Troy averages 10.75 runs per game, which ranks 30th nationally. Not to be outdone, the Demons scored 29 runs in their first three games of the year, placing them 42nd in Division I.
“We have to balance out how well prepared we need to be and be ready to compete,” Bertrand said. “We have to give them the utmost respect for how good they are, but – at the same time – we have a pretty good ballclub too, and we need to play with some confidence. We need to play with a level of competitiveness that says we are preparing ourselves for the thick of our conference play.”
Tonight’s and Sunday’s games will air on ESPN+ while free streaming audio of all three games will be available through http://www.NSUDemons.com and the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which is available free for all Apple and Android devices.
INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD: During the first three 2025 meets for Northwestern, six indoor school records have fallen, including four from the men’s and women’s mile relay teams.
Those record-breaking relay foursomes headline NSU’s entries as they lead the way into the LSU Twilight today, the final scheduled meet prior to the Southland Conference Indoor Championships early next month.
The field events kick the meet off at 9 a.m. at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse with the women’s weight throw. The running events start at noon with the women’s mile. Live results will be available at NSUDemons.com on the track and field schedule page.
In addition to Northwestern and host LSU, 10 teams are taking part in the meet, including Tulane, Alabama and NSU’s fellow SLC foes Nicholls, Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese.
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