Wichita State’s Eddy handcuffs Demons as Shockers even series

NATCHITOCHES – Once the Northwestern State baseball team got into the Wichita State bullpen in Friday night’s season opener, the Demons’ offense woke up.

Unfortunately for the Demons, they were unable to repeat that effort Saturday afternoon.

Shockers right-hander Liam Eddy handcuffed the Northwestern State lineup, and the Wichita State offense was content to work slowly to hand the Demons a 5-1 defeat at Brown-Stroud Field.

“He did a good job of getting fastballs by us early,” fourth-year head coach Bobby Barbier said. “Once we started to time the fastball, he spun it a little bit and created some doubt in our minds. That’s what you’re doing on the mound, creating doubt in the offense’s mind.”

Eddy (1-0) and Foster Gifford combined to allow only one hit, keeping the Demons without multiple hits for the first time since April 7, 2017.

Northwestern State’s lone hit came in the fourth inning as Marshall Skinner delivered a two-out RBI single to score Jeffrey Elkins, who drew a one-out walk and stole second base. Skinner’s fourth RBI of the weekend cut the Wichita State lead in half.

The Shockers broke through in the second inning against Reed Michel (0-1), who made his first career start and his first appearance since the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament bracket championship game. Michel scattered seven hits and two runs across five innings, throwing 59 pitches, 42 for strikes.

“Reed did a good job for us,” Barbier said. “He threw strikes, and they took some good swings. He minimized damage with runners on, and we played some good defense early. We turned the double play (in the first), but it broke down at the end.”

While Eddy kept the Demons off-balance, striking out 10 and walking just two while throwing 100 pitches, the Shockers built their advantage on timely hits.

Aside from Garrett Kocis’ leadoff home run in the second inning, Wichita State used two-out RBI hits from Couper Cornblum in the fourth and Derek Shaver in the eighth to add runs as well as taking advantage of a pair of Demon errors in the ninth inning, including a run-scoring error.

The Shockers scored single runs in their final three at-bats, widening a 2-1 lead that remained static from the fourth through sixth innings.

“We have to understand what a long season it is and how you have to stay in a long game,” Barbier said. “We have to keep that a two-run game and give our offense a chance later. It’s about learning. We have a lot of new guys who are out there learning. We’ll take a nap and get back at it (Sunday).”

Kocis (2-for-3), Hunter Gibson (2-5), Cornblum (2-5) and Shaver (2-4) all had two hits for the Shockers, who tallied 12 hits after being held to a pair of hits in Friday’s season opener.

The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday with a matchup of right-handers. Freshman Johnathan Harmon will start for the Demons against Wichita State right-hander Preston Snavely (3-4, 6.21).