Sharp Flowers, relentless offense key Demons’ sweep of HCU

NATCHITOCHES – Before Sunday afternoon, the most recent Southland Conference sweep for the Northwestern State baseball team ended with a walk-off home run by a left-handed hitter.

After Sunday’s matchup with Houston Christian, the Demons’ last two Southland Conference sweeps have ended with a walk-off home run by a left-handed hitter.

Daniel Young’s first career home run – a three-run blast to right-center – sealed Northwestern State’s 14-4 run-rule win against the visiting Huskies and gave the Demons their first SLC sweep since April 1-3, 2022, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. That series ended on a 10th-inning home run from Bryce Holmes to nearly the same spot in the ballpark.

“It feels amazing to come back to the dugout and celebrate with my teammates and capitalize on a great weekend,” Young said. “Sweeping Houston Christian is something we really, really needed.”

While Young’s three-run home run was the final swing Sunday, his first three at-bats typified a team-wide approach that put the Demons (18-26, 9-9) in position to secure their first three-game sweep of the Huskies since HCU (15-28, 6-12) entered the Southland Conference in the 2015 season.

Making his first start of the weekend, Young walked in his first three plate appearances. As a team, the Demons drew nine walks and had a hit by pitch. Three of NSU’s runs came from those walks, but the cumulative effect they took on HCU’s six pitches showed.

“The home run’s cool, but (Young) was on base four times today,” first-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “He had three really good, really balanced at-bats to draw his walks. The way he jumped into the lineup and grinded out at-bats and embraced getting it to the next guy, we’ve got a team full of those guys and DY was on the lucky end of it today.”

Young was far from alone in producing productive offensive highlights Sunday as one of six NSU starters to reach base at least three times.

Meanwhile, senior right-hander Dawson Flowers (2-3) gave the Demons exactly what they needed as they converted on their chance to sweep a team they entered the weekend tied with in the league standings.

A day after Tyler Bryan fired four shutout innings in his first career start, Flowers did him one better, cruising through five scoreless frames while the Demons built an 8-0 lead behind him.

Flowers was uber efficient early, facing the minimum through three innings and collecting his first six outs on just 12 pitches. That stretch included a key 5-6-3 double play Flowers induced from HCU’s top power threat, Samuel Benjamin, in the first.

“I’ve felt (that efficient) in spurts – a couple of innings here and there – but not like that since I was 10 or 11 years old,” said Flowers, who allowed two runs in six-plus innings on 75 pitches. “I’ve struggled the past few weeks – everyone’s seen it. To get out there, fill it up and give us a chance was all I wanted to do.”

While Flowers handcuffed the Huskies, the Demons again made short work of an HCU starter as Rocco Gump’s two-run, two-out home run drove Jackson Hamilton (1-2) from the game in the third inning.

It marked the second time in the series for the Demons to dump an HCU starter short of three innings after dispatching Parker Edwards in 1 2-3 innings Friday.

From there, the Demons feasted on the HCU bullpen, starting with a three-run fourth inning in which six Demons reached after the first two outs were recorded. Daniel Burroway’s two-run single was the key hit as Gump followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 7-0.

With Flowers in control, the Demons appeared to have all the offense they needed until HCU put together a three-run seventh inning.

Seven batters – and five hits – later, NSU walked off the field with its first run-rule win of conference play.

“It was awesome in the way we started the baseball game,” Bertrand said. “Dawson gave us five tremendous innings. We talked about getting off to a good start, and he gave it to us. Then our offense gets seven runs early. The way (pitching coach) Dan (Hlad) operated all week long and (hitting coach) Billy (Henley) operated all weekend long – getting 14, 11 and 5 (runs) – was tremendous.

“The amount of love and the amount of passion we have for our team showed in a moment where we needed it most. That says something about the character of these men, and it says something about the work we are putting in.”

The Demons return to action Friday when they open a three-game Southland Conference series at league-leading Lamar. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

Northwestern State 14, Houston Christian 4, 7 innings
HCU 000 001 3 – 4 10 0
NSU 103 310 6 – 14 14 1
W – Dawson Flowers (2-3). L – Jackson Hamilton (1-2). 2B – HCU, Luke Bard. NSU, Reese Lipoma, Samuel Stephenson, Balin Valentine. HR – NSU, Rocco Gump (5), Daniel Young (1). Highlights: HCU, Trent Baker 2-4; Trevor Roper 2-4; Samuel Benjamin 2-3; Tyler LaRue 2-3, RBI. NSU, Lipoma 3-5, 2B; Stephenson 2-2, 2B, 2 RBIs; Valentine 3-4, 2B, RBI; Gump 3-4, HR, 3 RBIs.
Records: HCU 15-28, 6-12; Northwestern State 18-26, 9-9.