The Northwestern State baseball team bounced back with aplomb Tuesday night.
The Demons found the complementary pieces they have searched for and responded to being swept over the weekend in a three-game Southland Conference series at Southeastern, blowing past NAIA LeTourneau with an 18-1, windy seven-inning victory at Brown-Stroud Field.
“What I’m most proud of our guys for is, we’ve talked for a while about playing against the game, not necessarily playing the opponent or not playing the scoreboard, just playing against the game,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “I thought we did that, especially in the early part of the ball game. We’d like to clean up some things at the end and finish it a little bit differently, but nonetheless, we threw strikes tonight. We moved runners. We got hits with two outs. We got hits with runners in scoring position.”
Speaking of the scoreboard, the game marked the first with the brand-new multi-feature board sponsored by BOM.
The hits came early and often for the Demons (5-7), who scored in double figures for the fifth straight home game.
A seven-run first inning was aided by a two-out error that Northwestern turned into four unearned runs. Ahead of the miscue, six of the first eight hitters reached base against the Yellowjackets (4-4). Clay Jung delivered the biggest swing of the opening frame, a two-run double down the right field line.
That started a breakout night for Jung, who tied a school single-game record with three doubles and matched his RBI total for the season with four.
“A lot of struggles early on,” Jung said. “Just staying the course and staying level-headed. It helps when we come out to the yard every day and do the same thing. We talk about routines and getting after our business the same way every day. Even though things weren’t going my way early on, I had a sense of comfort because I had my routine and my boys had my back. It’s good to finally see the results.”
Armed with an early lead, a parade of six Demon pitchers limited LeTourneau to five hits while striking out 11 in seven innings. Kevin Robinson (2-0) worked two scoreless innings in a designated short start before Brandon Carter, Aidan Newton, Kaden McCoy and Jacob LeBlanc all tossed a scoreless inning.
“The things that we needed to address as a team, the mission I laid out before them, we accomplished each one of those things tonight,” Bertrand said. “I’m proud of our team for playing against the game and getting back to the brand of baseball we know we can play.”
The Demons return to action Friday when they welcome Incarnate Word in their Southland Conference home opener. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field