By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo courtesy of the Southland Conference
HAMMOND – It was a tale of two eighth innings for the Northwestern State baseball team Saturday at the Southland Conference Tournament.
One was a scintillating seven-run rally that lifted the Demons to an 11-8 victory over top-seeded Southeastern Louisiana in an elimination game Saturday afternoon. The second, however, found Northwestern on the wrong end of a six-run New Orleans rally that helped propel the Privateers to a 12-11 victory in the bracket championship game Saturday night.
“They fight all day long, and that’s the part of it that’s really cool to me to be a part of,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “When you take the baseball aside – a win in one game, a loss in another – when you take the baseball out of it, the fight and the competitiveness is what needs to be talked about amongst these guys. It’s really special the way they always come ready for battle. They always come with their fists up. I know the night didn’t end the way we wanted it to and I know there is a lot of pain in the group, but that pain is a wonderful thing. It means you care and you poured yourself into something bigger than yourself.”
The Demons (35-21) put together their seven-run eighth in the opener to erase a four-run Southeastern (38-16) lead and put Northwestern in a bracket final for the second time in three seasons.
Down 8-4 entering the seventh, Northwestern strung together four straight one-out singles off reliever Kaleb Howell (0-1) and scored two runs before loading the bases with two outs.
Sebastian Huerta’s bases-loaded walk off reliever Nick Gisclair set the table for the Demons’ lone extra-base hit in a game where Northwestern tallied 18 hits.
Hudson Brignac’s bases-clearing double to right-center field gave the Demons a 10-8, their first since a 1-0 advantage in the first.
The Demons’ comeback was made possible by a career-best outing from senior left-hander Corbin Talley (1-0), who shut the Lions out for 4 1-3 innings out of the bullpen – his longest career outing.
“To really make a run like we did over the course of the past three weeks or so and into the last couple of days, to make a deep run you always have to have guys who step up into special roles or different roles,” Betrand said. “Every team, every season, every time you make a big run guys step up to the plate, and Talley is a great example of that. That’s the most exciting outing of his career, but (doing it) when the team needed it most, that’s special. Doing it the Demon way, that’s extremely special.”
Northwestern’s 18-hit attack was paced by a pair of seniors who contributed twin 5-for-6 performances in Samuel Stephenson and Clay Jung, each of whom notched the first five-hit game of his career.
The Demons maintained that momentum early in the nightcap against the Privateers, who edged Northwestern 3-2 in Friday night’s winners’ bracket game.
Leading 1-0 in the third, Northwestern delivered another crooked number – this time a five spot – to assume early control against New Orleans starter Zach Longshore. The biggest swing in the five-run frame came courtesy of sophomore right fielder Brooks Leonard, who delivered a three-run home run – the first of his career.
It was the 61st homer of the season for the Demons, which tied a school record.
The early uprising backed a stellar first seven innings from sophomore right-hander Kevin Robinson, who made his first career start against a Southland member after spending the majority of his first two seasons as a midweek starter.
Robinson shook off a two-run Bryce Calloway home run in the fourth inning to keep the Demons cruising into the eighth.
By then, Northwestern led 8-2 courtesy of back-to-back home runs from Stephenson and Balin Valentine on consecutive pitches to start the sixth inning.
In the eighth, the Privateers (28-24) turned the tables on the Demons as nine straight hitters reached after Robinson recorded the first out of the inning. The six-run frame tied the game and swung the momentum back to the UNO dugout.
It remained there through a four-run Privateer ninth inning, which the Demons again nearly answered.
Fifth-year senior Reese Lipoma led off the ninth by drawing his 48th walk of the season – placing him second in school single-season history. Stephenson followed with a single – his eighth hit of the two games Saturday – before a Valentine fielder’s choice and rundown left runners on second and third with one out.
Braden Benton brought both runners home with a two-out single before Calloway struck out the final batter to save his second game against the Demons in as many days.
It ended a season for Northwestern in which the Demons won their most games since 2018 and their most Southland games in a season since 2016.
In addition to setting the school single-season record with 63 home runs, the Demons saw third baseman Rocco Gump establish a new single-season mark for hit by pitches with 24.
“I don’t think the legacy of this team will be in a one-run game tonight or in a one-run game (Friday) night,” Bertrand said. “The legacy will be the way they have transformed our program and helped get it going in a beautiful direction and build a wonderful foundation and in the way they left it better than they found it. That’s our responsibility as baseball people – from the time we start playing the game until a time like tonight – you want to leave something better than you found it.
“With the ballpark, with the scoreboard, with the GPA accomplishment and the 35-win season, what this team has accomplished was transformational. The journey they went on has moved people, and that’s something we need to be proud of.”
Northwestern State 11, Southeastern Louisiana 8
NSU 111 010 070 – 11 18 1
SLU 123 110 000 – 8 12 1
W – Corbin Talley (1-0). L – Kaleb Howell (0-1). 2B – NSU, Hudson Brignac. 3B – SLU, Dane Watts, Logan Walters. HR – SLU, Walters (4), Jude Hall (9). Highlights: NSU, Reese Lipoma 2-5; Samuel Stephenson 5-6, RBI; Braden Benton 2-5, 2 RBIs; Clay Jung 5-6, RBI. SLU, Watts 3-5, 3B; Conner O’Neal 2-5, RBI; Walters 2-5, 3B, HR, 4 RBIs; Hall 2-3, HR, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 35-20; Southeastern Louisiana 38-16.
New Orleans 12, Northwestern State 11
UNO 000 200 064 – 12 17 1
NSU 015 002 012 – 11 14 1
W – Carson Kimball (2-1). L – Austin Anderson (3-1). S – Bryce Calloway (11). 2B – UNO, Alexander Saunier, Tristan Moore, Adrian Dominguez. NSU, Samuel Stephenson, Braden Benton, Sebastian Huerta. HR – UNO, Bryce Calloway (18), Bryan Loriga (7). NSU, Stephenson (11), Balin Valentine (8), Brooks Leonard (1). Highlights: UNO, Matt Gonzalez 3-4; Saunier 2-5, 2B, RBI; Calloway 4-5, HR, 3 RBIs; Moore 2-5, 2B, 4 RBIs; Diego Villescas 2-5, 2 RBIs. NSU, Stephenson 3-5, 2B, HR, RBI; Benton 2-4, 2B, 2 RBIs; Leonard 2-4, HR, 3 RBIs; Huerta 2-4, 2B, RBI.
Records: New Orleans 28-24; Northwestern State 35-21.
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