Demons fall to Stony Brook to wrap up trip to Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE — The Northwestern State baseball team had its chances to come away with a victory to end its stay in the state’s capital city.

But NSU (2-5) could not find the one or two more hits in an inning to tighten the game, as it dropped the final game in Baton Rouge to Stony Brook (3-4) at Alex Box Stadium, 5-1.

The Demons put two runners aboard in each of the final two innings, one batter away from bringing up the tying runner to the plate, but they couldn’t find the big hit.

“We’ve played seven games so far and feel like many of them have finished similarly,” first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “If we want a different outcome, we’ll need to execute a bit better and play a cleaner brand of baseball to earn a different result.”

Seawolves reliever Ty Stout closed the door, despite surrendering the pair of two-out singles.

Offensively, SBU used a pair of two-run innings to take control, using the benefit of Demon mistakes.

The Seawolves used the help of a pair of NSU errors to take the first lead in the third inning, as Cam Santerre reached on an error to score one run and Matt Brown-Eiring hit an RBI single to right, following an error that moved Santerre to second.

Two of NSU’s three errors came in the inning.

Bo Willis continued his hot stretch with a home run in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit to a single run, his seventh consecutive game with an RBI.

“Bo continues to be one of the big engines that drives this team,” Bertrand said. “He has earned every single thing, and he continues to work on his game, which has helped earn him a title as a team captain.”

However, that run was all the Demons could muster against Nicholas Rizzo in his eight innings, as Rizzo allowed the run on eight hits and striking out four. The freshman only allowed two runners to reach scoring position.

SBU responded with one in the next half-inning on an RBI single from Evan Fox to re-gain the two-run lead.

The Seawolves tacked on two more on a two-run double off the bat of Robert Taylor, bringing the score to 5-1.

Taylor posted a pair of hits, as he was one of three SBU players to record multiple hits, joining Brown-Eiring’s two and Erik Paulsen led the Seawolves with three.

Despite being tagged with the loss, Dylan Marionneaux pitched well for the Demons.

He allowed three runs in four innings, but only one of them was earned.

“I am excited by his and our young players’ development,” Bertrand said. “He threw the ball well and I have all the confidence in the world in him and he is improving each outing, which is a great thing.”

Braden Benton tallied three hits for NSU, giving him six hits in his last 14 at-bats, spanning four games. He was one of three Demons to record multiple hits, being joined by Cole Joyner and Balin Valentine, who each posted two.

Each team posted 10 hits in the game, the fifth game of the seven in which the Demons have recorded double digits in the hit column.

The Demons are back at Brown-Stroud Field on Tuesday night, taking on UL Monroe in front of the home crowd. It begins a stretch of five home games in the next six, which includes a three-game series with Troy.