Demons’ wild ninth-inning rally salvages series finale at HBU

HOUSTON – The only crooked number of the weekend came at the right time for the Northwestern State baseball team.

And it came virtually out of nowhere.

After watching their first two hitters go in order in the ninth inning, the Demons struck for four runs to erase a two-run deficit and salvage the final game of their Southland Conference series with Houston Baptist, 7-5, at Husky Field.

“This game can humble you,” third-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. “It will teach you lessons. It will do a lot of things. The ones that stick with it get rewarded. The ones who work hard and do the right things get rewarded.

“It knocked us down for all but one inning this weekend. For our guys to still have the fight to stick with it and put together some at-bats, I’m very proud of them for that.”

The win pulled the Demons (14-11, 6-6) back to .500 in the conference and helped them avoid their first conference sweep since April 2017.

It came with the Demons in the ultimate backs-against-the-wall scenario.

HBU reliever J.T. Newton (0-3) retired the first two batters of the top of the ninth before Larson Fontenot reached on an infield single to second base.

The seemingly innocuous single turned out to be the start of the game-winning rally. Peyton Davis laced an RBI double to left field to pull the Demons within one before J.P. Lagreco knocked in the tying run with a single.

Down to his last strike, Lagreco spoiled a 1-2 slider from Newton, getting the very end of the bat on the ball.

Two pitches later, his solid single into center scored pinch runner Chaney Dodge from second with the tying run.

“I wasn’t trying to do too much with the baseball,” Lagreco said. “I knew if I could put the barrel on it, Chaney would score from second. I felt like I was on all of his pitches. I didn’t feel like he was going to get anything past me. I was trying to stay locked in and get Chaney home any way I could.”

Lagreco took second base on the throw home, which proved key as HBU shortstop Derek Reilly could not handle Sam Taylor’s ground ball, allowing Lagreco to sprint home with the go-ahead run.

Jeffrey Elkins’ RBI double off the glove of leaping first baseman Johnny Gonzales’ glove capped the four-run outburst and kept the Huskies (8-19, 2-7) from sweeping the series.

“(Lagreco) and Peyton Davis, I’m so happy for them to come through with those hits in the ninth inning,” Barbier said. “J.P., getting the hit is one thing, but taking the base and putting us in scoring position to be able to take the lead. Those two guys work at it. Hopefully, they’ll be rewarded more often the rest of the season.”

After watching the Huskies produce back-to-back double-figure scoring games Friday and Saturday, Nathan Jones limited Houston Baptist to one hit and an unearned run through the first five innings.

On a milestone day that saw Jones move into a 10^th-place tie on NSU’s all-time list of games started and pass Brian Lawrence for ninth in career strikeouts, the Demons picked up their starter, who was victimized by some soft contact in a four-run HBU sixth inning.

With two outs, Erik Voller dumped a two-run double into left-center field to erase Northwestern State’s one-run lead. A seeing-eye single by Ryan Edmondson extended the lead before Nathan Soriano pushed it to 5-2 with an RBI triple.

Jones exited after six solid innings before Cullen McDonald (3-0) worked three scoreless innings, allowing only one walk to earn the victory.

“I came in with it 5-3, and my job is to make sure it stays the same,” McDonald said.. “I really felt like they wanted to swing early in the count. We hadn’t walked many guys this weekend, so I threw a lot of breaking balls and change-ups on the first pitch. I was going for weak contact.”

After the Huskies recorded 29 hits in the first two games of the series, Jones and McDonald limited Houston Baptist to six hits.

“I thought Nathan was really sharp,” Barbier said. “Even in the inning where they scored the four, they had some weak contact fall. He was really, really good today. Then Cullen did what he’s been doing. He keeps them off balance.”

The Demons collected 13 hits, their first double-figure hit performance since March 17.

Caleb Ricca (2-for-6), Tyler Smith (2-5, triple, RBI), Hilton Brown (2-for-5, RBI) and Davis (2-for-4, RBI) all produced multi-hit games while Edmondson (2-for-3) was the only Husky to record more than one hit.

The Demons return to action Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they host Mississippi Valley State in the first game of a two-game, mid-week series and the opener of a five-game homestand.

Northwestern State 7, Houston Baptist 5

NSU       001 100 104 – 7 13 1

HBU      001 004 000 – 5 6 3

W – Cullen McDonald (3-0). L – J.T. Newton (0-3). 2B – NSU, Jeffrey Elkins, Peyton Davis. HBU, Erik Voller. 3B – NSU, Tyler Smith. HBU, Nathan Soriano. Highlights: NSU, Caleb Ricca 2-6; Smith 2-5, 3B, RBI; Hilton Brown 2-5, RBI; Davis 2-4, 2B, RBI. HBU, Ryne Edmondson 2-3, RBI.

Records: Northwestern State 14-11, 6-6; Houston Baptist 8-19, 2-7