By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – A truly responsive nature led to a similar result for the Northwestern State baseball team Friday night.
A pair of two-run home runs from the Demons broke open a tie game in the fifth inning and sent Northwestern to a 12-2, eight-inning win at Stephen F. Austin in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series at Pilgrim’s Park.
“I can’t tell you how proud we are of that ball game and the entire ball club, from start to finish, because the evening was a responsive nature to what took place on Tuesday night (a 13-3 win at No. 4 LSU), and our team has talked about handling both failure and success – and tonight was our opportunity to handle success,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “This is a road environment that’s a tough one to play in against a pitcher who does a good job of mixing and changing speeds. We made a switch with (former Airline star) Carter White going out as a starter, and we traveled on the day of a game, which was a different schedule. We were up against a lot of things that we were interested to see how we responded to.”
After the Demons (26-17, 16-9) and Lumberjacks (11-29, 3-19) exchanged single runs in each half of the second and third innings, Northwestern tapped into its power to collect its fourth straight win.
Samuel Stephenson’s one-out double off SFA starter Dylan Mulcahy (1-3) set up the first of the Demons’ twin two-run home runs in the inning as Rocco Gump drilled his sixth homer of the season to right field.
Three batters later, Balin Valentine smacked his sixth home run of the season out to left field as part of a four-home run game for the Demons. It was Northwestern’s second four-homer game in Southland play this season, joining the Demons’ April 13 win at HCU.
Stephenson capped the home-run party with an opposite-field shot off reliever Kadin Munson as part of a two-run sixth inning.
“I think it just starts with one,” said Stephenson, who added a sacrifice fly in the third inning. “Once you get going with one – maybe one hit, maybe one walk, or even a six-pitch at-bat. It’s something to give us a little advantage. We’re doing a better job of taking advantage of every opportunity we’re getting and capitalizing on as many of them as we can. We’re still coming up short every once in a while, but it’s nice to see us coming through more often than not.”
In just his second career start, White (3-2) tossed seven strong innings, responding to SFA’s back-to-back run-scoring innings by holding the Lumberjacks scoreless for the final four innings of his outing before fellow freshman Wesley Marien closed the game with a scoreless eighth to give Northwestern its second straight run-rule victory.
Once the Demon offense solved Mulcahy, White knew what he had to do.
“It just gave me confidence, and I looked at our pitching coaches and said, “I have to stop giving up runs because the offense continues to provide for me in those situations, and I’ve got to have their backs as much as they have mine,’” White said.
It marked the second time in as many outings for White to work a career long in terms of innings pitched. White, a Bossier City product, went 5 1-3 innings in the April 17 series opener against Lamar.
In his two starts, White has scattered three runs in 11 innings, splitting a pair of decisions in Southland play. Not only was the result different from his Feb. 28 start at Southeastern Louisiana, so were the circumstances leading to it.
“This time I knew prior to it, so I could prepare more mentally and physically,” White said. “I just gave it to the Lord and let him take over.”
The series continues at 3:05 p.m. Saturday. Northwestern will send right-hander Tyler Bryan (1-5, 5.82) to the mound against Stephen F. Austin left-hander Cody Templeton (3-4, 4.57).
Northwestern State 12, Stephen F. Austin 2, 8 innings
NSU 011 042 04 – 12 12 2
SFA 011 000 00 – 2 7 0
W – Carter White (3-2). L – Dylan Mulcahy (1-3). 2B – NSU, Braden Benton 2, Samuel Stephenson. SFA, Josh Ibe. HR – NSU, Stephenson (5), Benton (8), Rocco Gump (6), Balin Valentine (6). Highlights: NSU, Stephenson 2-3, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs; Benton 3-4, 2 2Bs, HR, 3 RBIs; Valentine 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs. SFA, Ibe 2-4, 2B, RBI; Kevin Duran 2-3.
Records: Northwestern State 26-17, 16-9; Stephen F. Austin 11-29, 3-19.