FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – The Northwestern State baseball team began Wednesday afternoon’s game at No. 16/22 Arkansas with the biggest swing of the day.
However, the Demons were unable to continue to capitalize on that early moment – and a two-run, first-inning lead – as they fell to the Razorbacks, 5-2, at Baum-Walker Stadium
“I’m really proud of the way our guys competed, really proud of the way our guys fought to the end,” third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “It’s a great learning opportunity for us, because we need to recognize those two things from a competition and from a fight standpoint. We also need to recognize that the game played out exactly in the manner we deserved, because, in the game’s most critical moments throughout the game, we were not at our best.”
The first inning was the best moment for the Demons (25-20), who jumped to a 2-0 lead three batters in when Ethan Menard turned on a 2-2 pitch from Arkansas starter Tate McGuire and slammed it out to left-center field for his second home run of the season.
That was part of a three-batter stretch in which Thomas Marsala III doubled, Menard homered and Joe Siervo singled. The Demons collected four of their seven hits in the first two innings after Sam Ardoin’s two-out single in the second.
After the Demons drove McGuire from the game after two innings, the Razorbacks (30-16) called on Colin Fisher to kickstart a strong seven innings from the Arkansas bullpen.
Fisher tossed four scoreless innings, scattering two hits, allowing Arkansas to scratch its way back into the game.
The Razorbacks pulled even with single runs in the second and the fourth innings before Caden Fiveash escaped further trouble in the fourth. Fiveash and Caleb Muffoletto (0-1) held the line until the Razorbacks took their first lead of the game with a two-run seventh inning.
“I thought everybody who took to the mound today was extremely competitive,” Bertrand said. “I thought everybody who took to the mount today pitched in a manner that they were able to improve. They were able to get better. They were able to put some skins on the wall in a way that it’s going to be beneficial for us moving forward. We just, again, in those critical, critical counts and in those critical moments of the game, there’s a difference between dominating the moment and almost. And I think that we had a lot of almost today.”
Steele Eaves (5-1), Parker Coil and Ethan McElvain (fifth save) closed the game with a scoreless inning each for Arkansas.
Northwestern stranded six runners, including one in scoring position in each of the first two innings.
“There were too many opportunities lost offensively,” Bertrand said. “There were too many small mistakes that were made that, in a game of inches, cost you some things. There were some – I guess to some degree – maybe free gifts that were given that put our back up against the wall. In order to win a game like this, the margin of error is so thin, and I felt the game played out exactly in the manner we deserved but still really proud of the competitiveness and of the fight.”
Northwestern is off this weekend and returns to action next Tuesday evening at Louisiana Tech in Ruston in the Demons’ final midweek game of the regular season.
