By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – Two-out runs from his offense will make any pitcher more comfortable on the mound.
The pitcher who found himself in that position Saturday afternoon was Northwestern State junior right-hander Tyler Bryan.
The Demons backed a strong start from Bryan with nine two-out runs, setting the tone for a 12-4 Southland Conference victory against visiting UIW at Brown-Stroud Field.
“I’m so proud of the guys for going out and executing baseball plays in a manner we’ve talked about,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We’ve needed big hits. We’ve needed two-out hits. We needed to cash in. All those buzz words we’ve been searching for to use it on the scoreboard, we did that today.”
It didn’t hurt Northwestern (7-7, 2-3) to have Bryan continue to settle into his role as a weekend starter.
For the second straight outing, Bryan (1-1) worked a career long in innings pitched, scattering three runs across 6 1-3 innings to clinch the series win for the Demons.
Bryan fell behind 2-0 in the second before shutting out the Cardinals (8-7, 0-5) across the next four innings. In that time, the Demon offense began to find those timely hits about which Betrand spoke.
Samuel Stephenson’s two-run double tied things in the third before Daniel Burroway gave the Demons the lead for good with an RBI single off EJ Garcia (2-2).
Reese Lipoma’s two-out RBI single in the fourth doubled the lead before junior catcher Sebastian Huerta jump-started the game’s biggest rally.
Huerta, a junior transfer from Western Texas College, made his first career hit count, dumping a two-run single to center to begin a five-run fifth inning that gave the Demons a seven-run lead.
“It was a ton of weight off my shoulders,” Huerta said. “It just felt so good that I could come through for the team and especially to come through for TB with the way he was throwing on the mound.”
Bryan and Huerta have formed the battery for all four of Bryan’s starts this season – the last two of which have been quality starts.
A week after limiting Southeastern Louisiana to three runs in six innings, Bryan held a UIW team that entered the weekend averaging 9.9 runs per game to three runs in 6 1-3 innings.
“In the past, I’ve usually only thrown about two or three innings per weekend,” Bryan said. “Settling into this role is something I’m setting into. I know if I throw a pitch to the spot (pitching coach) Dan (Hlad) calls, Sebastian’s going to get there and help me out big-time, either stealing a strike or sticking the pitch to make it look more like a strike.”
Huerta’s single brought a rousing ovation from the Demon dugout as did a pinch-hit, two-run home run from Bryce Johnson in the eighth inning that answered Daniel Calabrese’s two-run shot in the seventh.
Johnson’s first career home run – an opposite-field shot to right-center field – was Northwestern’s first pinch-hit home run of the season and first since Daniel Young’s solo home run against Lamar in an elimination game of the Southland Conference Tournament on May 23, 2024.
“That’s exactly what we want to be about,” Bertrand said of the positive energy from the dugout. “Everyone knows Bas has been going through it a little bit. To see the team respond to him and to see the team respond to Bryce Johnson in that way is exactly the type of characteristics we want to exhibit and the type of family values we want to put out there.
“Our guys are playing good baseball, but they’re doing things the right way within the program. I love coaching this team. It’s nice to be part of watching them learn and grow.”
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday with left-hander Jackson Elizondo (1-1, 7.90) taking the mound for UIW against Northwestern right-hander Trent Hillen (1-1, 5.87).
Northwestern State 12, UIW 4
UIW 020 000 200 – 4 9 1
NSU 003 150 12x – 12 15 0
W – Tyler Bryan (1-1). L – EJ Garcia (2-2). 2B – UIW, Gray Bane. NSU, Rocco Gump, Samuel Stephenson, Daniel Burroway. 3B – NSU, Hudson Brignac. HR – UIW, Daniel Calabrese (3). NSU, Bryce Johnson (1). Highlights: UIW, Calabrese 2-5, HR, 2 RBIs; Ryder Hernandez 2-3; Bane 3-3, 2B. NSU, Reese Lipoma 2-4, RBI; Clay Jung 2-2; Burroway 2-5, 2B, RBI; Balin Valentine 2-5; Brignac 2-4, 3B, RBI.
Records: UIW 8-7, 0-5; NSU 7-7, 2-3.
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