NEW ORLEANS – The pivotal third game of Northwestern State’s Southland Conference baseball series at New Orleans played out in three acts.
Fortunately for the Demons, they wrote positive chapters in the opening and closing stanzas, holding off the Privateers for a series-clinching 10-9 victory at Maestri Field on Sunday afternoon.
“Everybody on our side is well aware that was not the sexiest baseball, but we’re also well aware that was probably the grittiest we can be,” second-year Demons’ coach Chris Bertrand said. “In a win like that, what you truly want to do is remove all of the great things from it you can continue to learn and continue to clean up the things that ail you. You want to use it as a springboard moving forward.”
Northwestern (14-9 overall, 7-5 SLC) won its second straight SLC road series, third overall, and its fourth straight series at Maestri Field because of a mantra Bertrand has repeated throughout his year-plus as the Demon skipper – put up your fists and fight.
The Demons broke quickly, striking for three-run innings in the first and second after stranding 15 runners on base in a 3-1 loss on Saturday. A brilliant two-hit complete game outing from sophomore Dylan Marionneaux, with a career-eight eight strikeouts, keyed a 1-0 win in Friday night’s series opener. Rocco Gump’s first-pitch fourth-inning homer was the game’s only run.
In Sunday’s rubber match, the Privateers (12-10, 6-6) chewed into NSU’s early 6-0 lead, mostly on a four-run sixth inning. After a leadoff homer in the seventh by Reese Lipoma padded NSU’s margin to 7-5, UNO pounced for three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Down 8-7, the Demons had one big swing left in them. Hudson Brignac was hit with the first pitch of the ninth inning before Lipoma singled to left and Samuel Stephenson laid down a sacrifice bunt moving both into scoring position.
The Privateers intentionally walked Rocco Gump for the second time in the series, allowing Lipoma’s fellow captain, Clay Jung, to deliver a bases-loaded single through the right side that put the Demons on the right side of the late-game roller coaster.
“After they walked Rocco, you take that personally,” said Jung, who had 3 of the Demons’ five hits in Friday’s opener. “I said, ‘Come in here with a fastball.’ He did, and I delivered. We’re resilient. We never put our hands down, and we punched back.”
Daniel Burroway followed Jung’s go-ahead hit with a sacrifice fly that turned into a pivotal insurance run. The Privateers tallied a two-out run off Bryce Leonard (2-1) before Leonard got a grounder to first to secure the victory.
“That’s a Demon type of win,” Bertrand said. “We’re a never-say-die group. We’re a gritty group. Keep punching. There are so many great things about the baseball game, and what we lack in curb appeal, we make up for it in the way we put our fists up.”
The Demons return to action Tuesday when they open a four-game homestand by hosting Centenary. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field. NSU hosts Nicholls in a three-game Southland series starting Friday evening.
