By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – The opportunities were there for the Northwestern State baseball team in its season opener against Central Arkansas on Friday night.
The results, however, were not.
Northwestern fell behind early to visiting Central Arkansas and could not overcome a pivotal error as the Bears grabbed a 6-2 victory at the new-look Brown-Stroud Field.
“We have to execute better,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “That’s the biggest thing we told them. We did compete hard and did some things we can take positives from and grow, but we have to learn that in the game’s biggest moments we have to execute better in all three phases.”
A four-pitch walk to open the first inning set a two-run frame in motion for the Bears (1-0), who drew seven walks and had three batters hit by pitches.
After allowing the first three batters to reach, sophomore right-hander Dylan Marionneaux (0-1) settled in and strung together three straight scoreless innings.
In that time, the Demons sliced the lead in half on Mason Wray’s RBI single, which marked the first hit of the junior catcher’s Northwestern career.
Marionneaux ran into trouble in the fifth when he issued back-to-back walks to start the frame. He followed with a pair of strikeouts before hitting leadoff batter Zeb Allen to load the bases.
Marionneaux then induced a grounder that second baseman Cade Pregeant could not handle, allowing two runs to score and push the Bears’ lead to three.
“In the game’s biggest moments where we need to limit, we need to make better pitches,” Bertrand said. “On defense, too. The game’s biggest play, I don’t think we played it well.”
The Demons had their chances against Central Arkansas starter Charlie Christensen (1-0), who struck out six in four innings while dancing in and out of trouble.
Northwestern got to Christensen, a first-team Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Conference pick, for five hits but only one – Wray’s two-out single in the fourth – came with runners in scoring position.
“Offensively, same thing,” Bertrand said. “I thought we created a ton of opportunities. We just weren’t able to get that two-out hit, or we weren’t able to get a big hit with guys on second and third to give us some momentum. You have to execute better in the game’s biggest moments.
“We also have to come out and set a better tone. We walked the leadoff hitter on four straight pitches, and on offense, we struck out on three straight pitches. From the top of the first or the bottom of the first, we have to learn to how to come out and set a better tone.”
Central Arkansas freshman Nathan Negre had a double and an RBI triple to pace the Bears’ eight-hit attack while Wray (2-for-4) and Reese Lipoma (2-3, RBI) each had multi-hit games for the Demons.
The series continues Saturday with a 12 p.m. first pitch. Right-hander Tyler Bryan (1-3, 5.88 in 2024) will start for the Demons against redshirt freshman Lucas Greer for Central Arkansas.
Central Arkansas 6, Northwestern State 2
UCA 200 020 200 – 6 8 0
NSU 000 100 100 – 2 9 1
W – Charlie Christensen (1-0). L – Dylan Marionneaux (0-1). 2B – UCA, Zeb Allen, Nathan Negre. NSU, Samuel Stephenson, Bryce Johnson. 3B – UCA, Negre.
Highlights: UCA, Allen 2-3, 2B; Negre 2-5, 2B, 3B, RBI. NSU, Reese Lipoma 2-3, RBI; Mason Wray 2-4, RBI.
Records: Central Arkansas 1-0, Northwestern State 0-1.