Demons hang on to take series from Nicholls

THIBODAUX – Two months of learning came to a point for the Northwestern State baseball team Saturday night.

The Demons put those lessons to good use, outlasting Nicholls, 11-10, in a back-and-forth Southland Conference slugfest where no lead felt safe until the final out.

“That game’s about intestinal fortitude,” first-year head coach Chris Bertand said. “I told the guys that. I’m proud of the win, but I’m more proud of the way we went about it. We showed some guts. We showed some things that are really special that we can take into future ballgames. You’re seeing the convergence where we are using the lessons we learned and using a day-by-day approach. We’re taking a pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning, game-by-game approach and mixing with toughness and fortitude. There are some special things brewing.”

On a night of crooked-numbered innings, Northwestern State (13-22, 6-5) needed just two innings to produce its 11 runs.

The first was a six-run second inning that featured a unique grand slam from Balin Valentine, who homered for the second straight game.

With the Demons leading 2-0 following RBIs from Rocco Gump and Reese Lipoma, Valentine hooked a line drive toward the left-field corner that was good for at least a pair of runs. Nicholls left fielder Garrett Felix threw his hands up, signaling the ball to be unplayable, which would have led to a ground-rule double.

Valentine never stopped running and the umpires deemed the ball to have been playable, giving Valentine his second straight four-RBI game – a night after his two-run,10th-inning home run lifted NSU to a 7-5 win in the series opener.

Despite the early lead, the Demons needed a late-game rally for the second straight game.

Nicholls (23-13, 6-5) nearly answered the Demons’ six-run inning, tallying five runs in the third before an outfield assist from Lipoma cut down a runner at third ended the inning and preserved the one-run lead.

The Colonels took the lead the next inning on a two-run Gerardo Villareal single off right-hander Aidan Newton (1-3), who bounced back with two scoreless innings to keep the Demons behind by just a run.

Those scoreless frames allowed Newton to benefit from the Demons’ second big inning of the night as Northwestern State rallied against a familiar face.

Hayden Knotts led off the seventh inning with a single off Nicholls reliever Devin Desandro (3-3), who made his fourth career appearance against the Demons – his first as a reliever.

Lipoma, who had three hits and extended his career-long hitting streak to 13 games, laid down a bunt single before Desandro hit Valentine to load the bases. Clay Jung poked a two-run single to left field before Daniel Burroway drilled a hanging breaking ball from Desandro out to right-center field for a three-run home run.

Burroway has hit six of his team-leading seven home runs in the first 11 games of Southland play and, like Valentine, homered for the second straight game.

“We’d been putting good swings on balls all night,” Burroway said. “It was definitely a slugfest with both teams putting good swings together all night. It just went our way.”

Burroway’s homer put the Demons up 11-7 before Basiel Williams answered with a pinch-hit, three-run shot in the bottom of the inning.

The lead remained at one entering the ninth inning when the Demons turned to closer Tyler Bryan.

A sophomore right-hander in his first year as the Demons’ stopper, Bryan collected his fourth save of the year, surviving a leadoff single from Felix and a two-out walk drawn by pinch hitter MaCrae Kendrick.

Going to a full count, Bryan induced Williams into a game-ending groundout to secure the Demons’ second road series win in conference play. Much like his team, Bryan has learned from a challenging non-conference and early conference schedule.

“Looking back on Southeastern (a ninth-inning rally against Bryan on March 23), you just have to put it behind you,” Bryan said. “Take what happened and learn from it. Throwing the ball in the strike zone was one of those. You can’t walk guys in the ninth inning.

“This team has fight. We’re not going to go away easily. The lead going away early was tough, but like I said, we’ve got fight.”

The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Freshman right-hander Dylan Marionneaux (2-5, 8.38) takes the mound for the Demons against Nicholls left-hander Michael Quevedo (4-0, 4.46).

Northwestern State 11, Nicholls 10
NSU 060 000 500 – 11 9 0
Nicholls 005 200 300 – 10 11 2
W – Aidan Newton (1-3). L – Devin Desandro (3-3). S – Tyler Bryan (4). 3B – NICH, Garrett Felix. HR – NSU, Balin Valentine (4), Daniel Burroway (7). NICH, Basiel Williams (3). Highlights: NSU, Reese Lipoma 3-6, RBI. NICH, Parker Coddou 2-4; Gerardo Villareal 2-4, 2 RBIs; Felix 2-4, 3B.
Records: Northwestern State 13-22, 6-5; Nicholls 23-13, 6-5.