By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
HAMMOND – The opportunities presented themselves for the Northwestern State baseball team Saturday afternoon.
The Demons, however, could not summon enough timely hits whereas homestanding Southeastern Louisiana took better advantage of those moments as the Lions picked up a 7-3 Southland Conference victory at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
“The story of the game is offensively, for us, is the number of runners left on base,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We weren’t able to cash in on opportunities that were vital to the success of the game. We’ve got to start to do some things we know are elements of winning baseball – mainly how do we prevent crooked numbers.”
Both teams put up crooked numbers Saturday as scoring took place in only three half innings.
The difference was a four-run Southeastern (9-2, 2-0) seventh inning that followed the Demons’ three-run seventh.
After starting the day 2-for-12 with runners on base, Northwestern (4-6, 0-2) awakened offensively in the seventh inning.
Hudson Brignac’s one-out RBI double started a three-run inning that included a Rocco Gump two-strike, two-out RBI single and a game-tying RBI double from Daniel Burroway.
The three-run inning became a game-tying event because Demon right-hander Tyler Bryan settled in after a rock third inning in which the Lions scored all three of their runs with two outs.
Bryan went six innings – the longest outing for a Demon starter this season – and allowed three runs.
“I thought T.B. gave us a good start, but the crooked number was (started by) an 0-2 (count) to a walk,” Bertrand said. “Giving the leadoff hitters gifts and putting ourselves in position to help them generate crooked numbers, that’s the story of it. They got their runs off two crookeds, and we left double-digit runners on base.”
The second crooked number for Southeastern proved to be the difference in the game as the Lions jumped Demon reliever Bryce Leonard (0-1) for four runs in the seventh.
Leonard was ahead of leadoff hitter TJ Salvaggio 0-2 in the seventh before hitting him with a pitch. Two batters later, Logan Walters’ two-run single through a drawn-in infield put the Lions back ahead.
While the Demons rallied in the seventh, they had plenty of chances to break through earlier, including the sixth inning when the first two Northwestern hitters reached base before freshman reliever Truitt Webb retired the next three hitters.
In the ninth, the same pattern nearly played out.
Reese Lipoma led off with a walk before Ambrose hit Samuel Stephenson with a pitch.
After Gump flied out and Nick Gisclair retired Burroway on a fly ball, the Demons loaded the bases on a Braden Benton walk.
Gisclair then struck out Bryce Johnson to secure the win as the Demons left the final three of their 12 stranded runners aboard.
“In the game’s most critical moments, you have to be at your best,” Bertrand said. “It seems like on Friday and Saturday, the last two days, we haven’t been the best versions of ourselves in the game’s most critical moments. When your opponent performs better than you in those moments, we’re going to get the two results we got.”
Gump led Northwestern’s 10-hit attack by tying his career high with three hits while Brignac (2-for-4) and Balin Valentine (2-for-3) each had mutli-hit games.
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Junior right-hander Trent Hillen (1-1, 7.56) takes the mound for Northwestern while Southeastern has yet to name its starter.
Southeastern Louisiana 7, Northwestern State 3
NSU 000 000 300 – 3 10 0
SLU 003 000 40x – 7 9 1
W – Chase Ambrose (1-0). L – Bryce Leonard (0-1). S – Nick Gisclair (1). 2B – NSU, Daniel Burroway, Hudson Brignac. SLU, Conner O’Neal, Dane Watts. HR – SLU, Ben Robichaux (1). Highlights: NSU, Rocco Gump 3-5, RBI; Balin Valentine 2-3; Brignac 2-4, 2B, RBI. SLU, O’Neal 2-3, 2B; Peyton Woods 2-4, 2 RBIs; Robichaux 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 4-6, 0-2; Southeastern Louisiana 9-2, 2-0.