Baseball — Demons fall victim to South Alabama power surge

NATCHITOCHES – In the course of a 55-game season, days like Sunday will happen to a baseball team.

Visiting South Alabama blasted five home runs and got a strong starting pitching performance from right-hander JoJo Booker in a 12-1 win that capped a three-game sweep of Northwestern State at Brown-Stroud Field.

“They hit five home runs, and at some point, you have to tip your cap,” said fifth-year head coach Bobby Barbier, whose Demons fell to 9-12. “It’s hard to hit five home runs in batting practice. They did a good job. Their guy on the mound did a good job. We played a couple of tight ones, and that one just got away from us.”

The Jaguars (13-9) wasted no time jumping to a lead as Michael Sandle followed Cameron Tissue’s leadoff walk with a two-run home run off NSU starter Peyton Graham (0-1), who made his first appearance since April 30, 2019.

Graham worked 2-3 of an inning, allowing four hits and four runs as South Alabama took an aggressive approach against the senior right-hander.

Freshman right-hander Drake Smith entered and silenced the Jaguars for the next 2 1-3 innings, retiring all seven hitters he faced while striking out a career-high five.

“I was trying to find a spot to get Drake in where it would be settled down a little bit,” Barbier said. “He came in and pitched well. I’m very proud of him. It’s hard when you don’t run out there and pitch competitively for a week or 10-12 days. I’m proud of the way he pitched.”

The Jaguars’ four-run first inning was more than enough for Booker (2-0), who limited the Demons to four hits across seven innings of one-run ball.

Following Daunte Stuart’s one-out single in the first, Booker retired 12 straight Demons before Marshall Skinner’s two-out double in the fifth inning.

By that time, Carter Sanford had hit the first of his two home runs to extend the lead to 5-0. Sanford’s second home run of the day – a three-run shot that landed in the new bullpen in right field – highlighted a four-run sixth inning and pushed the Jaguar lead to 9-0.

Northwestern State put together its best threat against Booker almost immediately after that when Peyton Davis and Jake Haze singled to open the inning and Stuart drew a one-out walk.

Booker recovered and limited the damage to Lenni Kunert’s sacrifice fly to keep it an eight-run game.

South Alabama added two runs in the seventh and one in the ninth as Ethan Wilson hit his second and third home runs of the series before the Demons loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

Sam Knowlton, however, recovered from a bout of wildness earlier in the ninth to retire the final two Demons he faced to close the game.

Northwestern State returns to action Tuesday when it hosts LSU-Alexandria at 6 p.m. in the Demons’ lone home mid-week game of the season.

South Alabama 12, Northwestern State 1
USA 400 014 201 – 12 11 1
NSU 000 001 000 – 1 6 0
W – JoJo Booker (2-0). L – Peyton Graham (0-1). 2B – USA, Santi Montiel. NSU, Marshall Skinner. HR – USA, Michael Sandle (2), Ethan Wilson 2 (5), Carter Sanford 2 (2). Highlights: USA, Wilson 2-4, 2 HRs, 2 RBIs; Montiel 3-4, 2B, 3 RBIs; Sanford 2-4, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs.
Records: South Alabama 13-9, Northwestern State 9-12.