By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Matthew Bonnette, McNeese Athletics
HAMMOND – Another matchup with McNeese, another nail-biter for the Northwestern State baseball team.
Facing the Cowboys for the fourth time in eight days, the Demons delivered another white-knuckle victory as Samuel Stephenson’s two-run, bases-loaded single gave Northwestern a 7-6 walk-off victory against McNeese in the opening game of the Hammond Bracket of the 2025 Southland Conference Tournament.
Stephenson lined a full-count cutter from Eric Nachstheim to left-center field to score Bryce Johnson and Hudson Brignac with the tying and winning runs as the fourth-seeded Demons (34-19) delivered second-year head coach Chris Bertrand his first SLC Tournament win as a head coach.
With the win, the Demons will face the winner of No. 8 seed New Orleans and No. 1 seed Southeastern Louisiana in Friday’s 6 p.m. winners’ bracket game.
“I knew I was probably going to get another cutter, and I knew I had to stay on it better than I had the others,” Stephenson said. “I tried not to get under it and have a better team (at-bat). One through nine, we have the mind-set that we’re always in the fight. We’re never too far out of it. We proved it today. No matter the amount of separation, we can work our way back.”
The Demons trailed at three different junctures of the game Thursday, but each time, they had an answer.
Down 2-0 following Grant Mangrum’s home run in the third, Northwestern responded by scraping together two runs in an inning that Brooks Leonard started with his first career double.
After McNeese (31-16) manufactured a go-ahead run in the fifth, Stephenson lined a two-out double off Cowboy starter Sergio Lopez, who went eight solid innings on a very hot, humid day.
Rocco Gump followed with an opposite-field, two-run home run to return the lead to Northwestern.
A three-run McNeese sixth against Carter White and Dylan Marionneaux (4-4) provided another chance for a rally and redemption for the Demons.
“It’s Demon baseball at its best,” Bertrand said. “We’ve talked about it at length all year long – learning the lessons you know you’re going to be able to put to use in the biggest moments. Today, in a high-stakes baseball game, in the biggest moments, we were able to call upon a lot of those lessons. We were able to call upon a lot of that preparation.
“Facing a team four times in a row is not easy, but some element of our success, I feel, is because of how well prepared and how much each thing happened – from the time we first played them last Thursday night through the end of today’s game – we learned from every single moment.”
Like his offense, Marionneaux responded after the three-run sixth, holding McNeese scoreless in the final three innings, allowing the Demons to chip away at the lead.
Not to be left out, the Demon defense had its moments as well. Stephenson’s relay throw to cut down the final out of the sixth at home plate kept it a two-run game.
Catcher Mason Wray and Marionneaux combined to catch Southland stolen base leader Conner Westenburg stealing second after a leadoff ninth-inning single.
“I just took deep breaths before each pitch,” Marionneaux said. “I needed to calm my mind and throw each pitch with more conviction. I know the offense is capable of coming back and winning the game, so I just wanted to put zeroes up for my guys.”
Once Marionneaux settled in and settled the game, the Demon offense awakened.
Clay Jung’s two-out solo home run in the eighth sliced the lead in half and forced the Cowboys to make a decision in the ninth inning.
McNeese turned to Gravel, typically a starter, to try to close out the game.
Johnson lined a pinch-hit single to right to welcome Gravel, who hit Brignac before exiting with a 1-0 count on Reese Lipoma.
Lipoma worked the count to 3-1 on Nachtsheim before singling to right to load the bases for Stephenson, whose single gave the Demons their seventh last at-bat win of the year and their fourth walk-off victory.
“We exhibited the characteristics we say we want to be about,” Bertrand said. “That’s a win full of grit. That’s a win full of figure it out. That’s a win full of never say die. It’s a win full of complementing one another and picking each other up.
“I’m very, very proud of our team’s physical performance but more proud that it was a win of character, and I’m very proud of the character of the 40 dudes in the Demon dugout.”
Northwestern State 7, McNeese 6
McN 002 013 000 – 6 10 1
NSU 002 020 012 – 7 11 3
W – Dylan Marionneaux (4-4). L – Alexis Gravel (4-3). 2B – McN, Conner Westenburg, Bryce Fontenot. NSU, Samuel Stephenson, Brooks Leonard. HR – McN, Grant Mangrum (2). NSU, Rocco Gump (8), Clay Jung (7). Highlights: McN, Westenburg 2-4, 2B, RBI; Larry Edwards Jr. 2-4; Mangrum 2-4, HR, 4 RBIs. NSU, Reese Lipoma 2-5, RBI; Stephenson 2-4, 2B, 2 RBIs; Leonard 2-4, 2B.
Records: McNeese 31-16; Northwestern State 34-19.