Killer B’s lift NSU past HCU

NATCHITOCHES – At this rate, Bo Willis and Balin Valentine can call themselves the Northwestern State baseball version of the Killer B’s.

With one of the Houston Astros’ most famous Killer Bs in the opposing dugout, Willis and Valentine continued their strong weeks, combining for two home runs and 10 RBIs in the Demons’ 11-5 Southland Conference series-opening win against visiting HCU at Brown-Stroud Field.

And those twin performances came on a night that featured close to a 17-minute delay because the lights went out and a near rain delay that preceded a perfect relief outing from Northwestern State’s Alejandro Marquez.

“A crazy night in Demonland, but at the same time I’m really proud of our ballclub for the things we did exhibit,” first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “Eleven runs on a Friday night in league play, under any circumstances – I’m really proud of that. Our offense really did a good job of stringing together at-bats that were really good physically and mentally all game long. I don’t think we left too many out on the field.”

A fifth-year senior, Willis was in the middle of an early-game surge against HCU starter Parker Edwards (4-5).

Willis’ two-out, two-run single opened the scoring in a three-run first and his third career grand slam – a no-doubt shot to left-center through a howling wind – drove Edwards from the game and put the Demons up 7-2 with all seven runs scoring with two outs.

“I was building off last game,” said Willis, who had his second consecutive three-hit game after going 3-for-5 with a home run in Tuesday’s win against Grambling. “It’s easy to get complacent when you start hitting well. I wanted to stay patient at the plate. I had an idea what I was going to get. I saw it and didn’t waste an opportunity.”

The Demons (16-26, 7-9) forced HCU coach Lance Berkman, a longtime star with the Houston Astros and one of the team’s Killer Bs alongside Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, to go to the bullpen early. Once into the relief corps, the Demons added on to their lead on Valentine’s third-inning sacrifice fly.

Chase Prestwich (4-4) put up consecutive zeroes in the third and fourth innings before Samuel Benjamin’s two-run home run in the fifth cut the lead to 8-4. Two batters later, Brown-Stroud Field was bathed in darkness as the field lights went out.

Prestwich returned to the mound after the delay and struck out the final two batters of the inning to return momentum to the Demon dugout where the offense answered back for the NSU starter.

Following back-to-back walks from reliever Baylor Baumann to Hayden Knotts and Reese Lipoma, Valentine hit the third pitch he saw from Jett Feltman over the center field wall for a three-run home run that blew the game open.

Both Willis and Valentine have driven in nine runs in the Demons’ past two games as Northwestern State has scored 27 runs in wins against Grambling and HCU.

“We played very complementary baseball,” Bertrand said. “We responded to adversity – whether it be the conditions or the weather – really, really well. We did a lot of good things. Even the things we didn’t do well are fixable.”

There was no need to fix Demon reliever Alejandro Marquez, who entered the game after Prestwich surrendered a solo home run to Luke Bard and a one-out walk in the sixth.

Marquez calmly and efficiently set down all 11 HCU hitters he faced as the Demons handed the Huskies (15-26, 6-10) their fifth straight conference loss.

Adding to the oddities surrounding Friday night’s game, Marquez nearly had to wait out a rain delay before throwing his first pitch. While Marquez threw his warmup pitches, the off-and-on rain that had fallen increased in intensity, leading the umpiring crew to call for the tarp.

Marquez had barely made his way off the field – and the tarps had not reached the mound or home plate – before the rain slacked off and allowed him to start his outing unimpeded.

“It kind of calmed me down,” said Marquez, who credited his cutter for helping him record his 11 outs on only 36 pitches. “Going in, it’s a little nervous. It gave me a second to calm down and do the job my team needed me to do.”

The series continues at 2 p.m. Saturday with a matchup of right-handed pitchers. Tyler Bryan (0-1, 8.10) is set to start for Northwestern State against HCU right-hander Rye Gunter (2-0, 5.40).

Northwestern State 11, HCU 5
HCU 020 021 000 – 5 6 0
NSU 341 030 00x – 11 9 1
W – Chase Prestwich (4-4). L – Parker Edwards (4-5). S – Alejandro Marquez (1). 2B – HCU, Trevor Roper, Ty Hodge. HR – HCU, Samuel Benjamin (12), Luke Bard (4). NSU, Balin Valentine (7), Bo Willis (5). Highlights: HCU, Roper 2-5, 2B, RBI. NSU, Rocco Gump 2-4; Willis 3-5, HR, 6 RBIs.
Records: HCU 15-26, 6-10; Northwestern State 16-26, 7-9.