By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – The way Trent Hillen was pitching for Northwestern State on Sunday afternoon, he didn’t need much offensive support.
Balin Valentine was more than happy to provide what was needed and then some.
Valentine capped his weeklong power surge with his first career multi-home run game to back Hillen’s strong start as Northwestern capped a three-game Southland Conference sweep of Nicholls with a 6-2 win at Brown-Stroud Field.
“It’s felt great,” said Valentine, who homered four times in four games this week. “It’s easy to ride the wave of playing good ball. We’re all playing good baseball right now. We’re hitting it great. We’re pitching it great. We’re making opposing pitchers work.”
While Valentine delivered his second straight four-RBI game against the Colonels (11-18, 5-10), it was Daniel Burroway who came through and delivered the first big swing of the day.
Burroway snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run single in the fourth inning off Nicholls starter Michael Lindsey (0-3) that sent the Demons (18-9, 10-5) off and running to their 13th straight home victory.
“Anytime your pitching staff puts up eight zeroes on a Sunday, you have a chance to do it,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We got enough. Three big swings – two big swings from Balin Valentine and a big one from Burr. The defense picked it up whenever we needed them to. The biggest thing you take away from the weekend is we won those three games in three different ways. They unfolded in three different ways, which is the mark of a great team.”
Hillen (4-1) bounced back from a tough start at New Orleans, which was marred by a tough sixth inning, to spin 7 1-3 innings of one-run ball with the one run being unearned.
A junior right-hander who began his career at Nicholls, Hillen held his former team scoreless until the eighth inning, giving his offense ample time to supply the backup he needed.
“Pretty much everything sucked against UNO,” said Hillen, who threw 65 of his 100 pitches for strikes. “Getting back home, not traveling as much, I worked the whole week with (pitching coach) Dan (Hlad) and figured it out in my bullpen on Thursday.”
Whatever Hillen found worked against a Nicholls team that managed to go only 2-for-10 against him with runners on base.
While Hillen kept his old team off-balance, Valentine continued to torment the Colonels.
After blasting a three-run home run in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Valentine repeated the feat in the fifth inning Saturday, ambushing Lindsey’s first pitch to bust open a two-run game.
Valentine’s solo home run off reliever Dalton Hill in the seventh inning gave him the first multi-homer game for a Demon hitter since Gray Rowlett did so against UIW on April 22, 2023. In six career games against Nicholls, Valentine has five home runs and 17 RBIs.
“Special talent and a special person,” Bertrand said. “He’s still coming into his own. With the offseason surgery, we knew it was going to take a multitude of at-bats. We just didn’t know how many. When you mix somebody with his talent and someone with his explosiveness and fast-twitchiness and you take it to where he battles and grinds and gets his body back, you get about 60 at-bats under your belt, that’s what he’s capable of doing.
“What you’re finally seeing is hard work pay off, but also a great approach mixed with his talent. I’m glad he’s in our dugout.”
The Demons return to action Tuesday night when they open a two-game, midweek road trip at UL Lafayette. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.
Northwestern State 6, Nicholls 2
NICH 000 000 020 – 2 6 0
NSU 000 230 10x – 6 6 2
W – Trent Hillen (4-1). L – Michael Lindsey (0-3). 2B – NSU, Hudson Brignac. HR – NSU, Balin Valentine 2 (4). Highlights: NICH, Carter Jenkins 3-3. NSU, Valentine 2-3, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs.
Records: Nicholls 11-18, 5-10; Northwestern State 18-9, 10-5.
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