Carver outduels Rogers in battle of aces as Demons down Cowboys, 5-2

NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State baseball team has played its best at home in the 2023 season.

The home-happy Demons played arguably their most complete game of the year and handed McNeese ace Grant Rogers his first loss of the year, defeating the Cowboys 5-2 in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series at Brown-Stroud Field.

Making the final home start of his career, senior left-hander Cal Carver set the tone for the Demons (26-21, 11-8) with eight sparking innings, shutting out McNeese (31-17, 11-11) for 7 2-3 innings before Cooper Hext’s two-run home run in the eighth.

“Just special,” seventh-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. “Last time out (at home), that’s pretty neat. It’s what we’ve seen from him. We got some balls hit at us on the ground, and we made every play. It makes it tough on a team when you make every play and smother them with strikes.”

Carver (6-3) picked up his 17th career win, one shy of entering the top 10 in school history, with eight innings of three-hit, two-run ball. A left-hander from San Antonio, Carver retired the first eight McNeese batters he faced and did not allow a hit until Tre Obregon III’s two-out double in the fourth.

Carver responded to that hit by retiring the next 11 batters he faced before Payton Harden’s infield single in the eighth. Carver struck out just three in eight innings but used his defense with aplomb, recording 13 groundball outs and two more infield pop outs.

“The defense was making great plays behind me,” Carver said. “I wasn’t trying to strike everybody out, just knowing the infield behind me is going to make plays. (Jake) Haze, Daunte (Stuart), Mikey (Dattalo) and Gray (Rowlett) were outstanding tonight.”

All four of the Demon infielders played key roles in handing Rogers, a D1Baseball.com Midseason All-American, his first loss after 10 wins to open the season. The Demons never put up a crooked number but tallied five one-run innings to back Carver and right-hander Kyle Froehlich, who worked a scoreless ninth inning to notch his seventh save of the season.

Haze started the first run-scoring inning, lining a double to right-center off Rogers to open the second inning. Two batters later, Rowlett singled him home to give the Demons an early lead.

Haze added a pair of RBIs on a bases-loaded fielder’s choice in the fifth and a single off reliever Cameron Lejeune through a drawn-in infield to push the lead to 4-0 in the seventh.

In between, the Demons added a run in the sixth when Jacob Farrell scored from second on a wild pitch from Rogers, who allowed eight hits and three runs (two earned) in six innings.

“We got a good scouting report on (Rogers),” said Haze, one of four Demons who had two hits in the game. “We had some success against him last year. I had some success personally against him last year. I knew to ambush a fastball the first time. The later at-bats, I was working counts, and he was trying to be a little more perfect with his pitches and he missed a little bit.”

Jeffrey Elkins, playing his final home series at Brown-Stroud Field, capped the scoring with an opposite-field solo home run in the eighth – his team-leading 11th of the season and 35th of his career, extending his school record.

Elkins (2-for-5), Dattalo (2-for-4), Stuart (2-for-4) and Haze (2-for-4) all had multi-hit games for the Demons, who improved to 18-6 at home this season. The 18 wins equal the number NSU posted in 2022 in 28 home games.

The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Demons send right-hander Alex Makarewich (5-4, 5.11) to the mound against McNeese right-hander Bryson Hudgens (0-0, 0.00).

Northwestern State 5, McNeese 2
McN 000 000 020 – 2 4 1
NSU 010 011 11x —5 11 0
W – Cal Carver (6-3). L – Grant Rogers (10-1). S – Kyle Froehlich (7). 2B – McN, Tre Obregon III. NSU, Jake Haze, Bailyn Sorensen. 3B – NSU, Daunte Stuart. HR – McN, Cooper Hext (8); NSU, Jeffrey Elkins (11). Highlights: McN, Obregon III 2-4. NSU, Elkins 2-5, HR, RBI; Michael Dattalo 2-4; Stuart 2-4, 3B; Haze 2-4, 2B, 2 RBIs.
Records: McNeese 31-17, 11-11; Northwestern State 26-21, 11-8.