As the Northwestern State baseball team opens the home portion of its 2025 Southland Conference schedule, it does so against a team that finds itself in a similar situation.
The Demons host Incarnate Word at 6:30 p.m. today in Northwestern’s home Southland opener. The game is part of a three-game series that also includes a 2 p.m. Saturday matchup and a 1 p.m. Sunday matinee finale. All three games will air on ESPN+.
Both the Demons (5-7, 0-3) and Cardinals (8-5, 0-3) suffered sweeps in their conference-opening series. Northwestern fell to Southeastern Louisiana in three games in Hammond while UIW dropped all three of its games to Houston Christian at home.
Each team bounced back to grab a midweek win Tuesday with Northwestern thumping LeTourneau, 18-1, while UIW walked off a 7-6 win against Texas State.
“They’re coming off a great midweek win against an unbelievable Sun Belt team in Texas State,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “For us, it goes back to the way we talked to our team (after the weekend). I’m sure a lot of the same things are happening on the other side. You focus not on 0-3. You focus not on losing three baseball games. You focus on what happened, how do I own it and how can I take from it?”
SOFTBALL: Northwestern picked up what will stand as one of the biggest upset wins of the entire 2025 softball season this past weekend.
The youngest team in the country not only beat the No. 20 ranked team in the nation in Mississippi State, they did so in shutout fashion with freshman Brooklyn Stohler holding the high-powered Bulldog lineup to just three hits in the game.
She benefited from a four-run sixth inning that pushed the NSU lead to five as she completed her conference leading seventh complete game of the year to earn her first career shutout.
Now it is what do the Demons (3-17) do with that win as they enter the most important portion of the schedule – conference play.
NSU hosts HCU (6-11) in the first Southland Conference series of the season beginning with the standard first-day doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. today, with Saturday’s single game set for a noon start. All games will air on ESPN+.
While the Demons are focused on UIW, lots of people are eager to see if the win over Mississippi State is one the team can build on – including first-year coach Jenny Fuller.
“I think that it’s going to give us a lot of confidence heading into this weekend,” Fuller said. “HCU has some good players on their team, but what we did on Sunday should give us the confidence that we can play with anybody no matter. Hopefully we keep that same attitude that we had against Mississippi State and take care of business.”
TENNIS: The Lady Demons host a pivotal Southland Conference clash against newcomer UTRGV today at 1 p.m. at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.
The match, initially scheduled for Saturday, was moved up a day to avoid possible rainy weather.
The Lady Demons (2-5, 2-0) are riding high after a dominant 6-1 victory over Nicholls earlier this week in Thibodaux. Today’s match will begin a string of three homecourt matches, continuing next week with contests against teams coached by two former NSU head coaches, Olga Bazhanova Moore and Jonas Brobeck. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi visits Monday and Rhode Island comes in to play Wednesday.