Northwestern State hands LSU 7-3 loss in home finale

BATON ROUGE, La. – Five Northwestern State pitchers limited LSU to five hits Tuesday, as the Demons posted a 7-3 win over the Tigers in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

The loss was LSU’s first in a midweek non-conference game this season. The Tigers completed the nonconference portion of their regular-season schedule with a 12-1 midweek record.

LSU is 32-20 overall, while Northwestern State improved to 27-24.

Thursday’s game will be televised on ESPNU. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network +, and they can be heard on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network.

Right-hander Ethan Francis (1-0), the first of five Northwestern State pitchers, was credited with the win on Tuesday, as he worked two shutout innings with one hit and two walks.

Reliever Drayton Brown earned his sixth save of the year for the Demons, allowing no hits in two shutout innings with three strikeouts.

“It didn’t appear to me that we were mentally ready to play today, and I take full responsibility for that,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We didn’t perform at the high level that we needed to in order to win this game. Northwestern State played very inspired baseball, they deserved to win, and you have to give them credit. This was very uncharacteristic of us, because we’ve played so well all year in the middle of the week.”

LSU starting pitcher Will Hellmers (6-2) was charged with the loss, as he gave up one run on two hits in two innings with one walk and two strikeouts.

Centerfielder Larson Fontenot led the Demons’ 12-hit output by going 4-for-5 at the plate with one RBI and two runs scored. Rightfielder Tyler Smith and designated hitter Jeffrey Elkins each drove in two runs for Northwestern.

“Before we played today, coach (Blair Barbier) told us to have fun,” said Fontenot, who played 28 miles from his hometown of St. Amant. “How can you not have fun coming back to your hometown and letting it go? Everyone had that mind-set of whatever happens, happens, and let’s just play ball.”

Elkins’ solo homer in the top of the second inning broke a 0-0 tie and gave the Demons a lead they would not relinquish.

“I’ve been feeling good,” said Elkins, whose two-run double was the difference in the Demons’ 3-1 win against the Tigers on March 12, 2019, in Natchitoches. “We’ve been working on an approach with (assistant coach) Spence (Goodwin) and coach (Bobby) Barbier and the guys. We’ve been sticking with it, and it’s worked. We had 12 hits, and everybody came up big.”

Northwestern State led 6-0 in the bottom of the seventh when the Tigers staged a three-run rally highlighted by rightfielder Dylan Crews’ two-run triple.

However, Brown prevented LSU from narrowing the gap further, and the Demons added an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI single by first baseman Peyton Davis.

“I thought today we played without expectations,” said Barbier, who has presided over NSU’s first back-to-back wins against LSU since April 2-3, 1996. “Whether that was because we’re playing LSU, an SEC team, or we’re playing a mid-week game, I don’t know. I thought we played that way, which allowed us to play more freely. Usually when you come into these parks, it goes one way or the other.

“Now what we have to do is put it behind us and get ready for a big series at Texas A&M,” Mainieri said. “We’ve got a job to do this weekend; we know Texas A&M is going to play us really tough, and we’ll have to play really well. Our kids will play with confidence and, hopefully, we can get a win on Thursday night and then turn our attention to the next day.”

The Tigers return to action at 6 p.m. CT Thursday when the Tigers open a three-game SEC series at Texas A&M in Bryan-College Station, Texas. The series will conclude the Tigers’ 2021 regular-season schedule.

The Demons return to action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opener of a four-game Southland Conference series at Brown-Stroud Field.