NATCHITOCHES, La. – The HCU baseball team heads across state lines for a three-game Southland Conference series against league-leading Northwestern State at Brown-Stroud Field this Friday through Sunday.
HCU (14-18, 6-9 SLC) dropped two of three in last weekend's SLC series against Nicholls. The Huskies shut out the Colonels on Thursday, 3-0, behind a dominant pitching performance from
David Lopez,
Louis Castano and
Ben Norton.
That trio of pitchers has been stellar this season for the Huskies, combining for a 7-2 record with five saves and 94 strikeouts in 75.2 innings pitched. Among the three, the highest batting average against is .231.
Senior
Luke Bard continues to be on a tear at the plate, carrying a 12-game hitting streak into the weekend. Bard has raised his average from .176 to .407 over the course of the last 12 games with multiple hits in six of those 12 games played.
The Demons (22-11, 13-5 SLC) sit atop the SLC standings with Southeastern and Lamar behind them at 10-5. Northwestern State has won each of its last five SLC series, including a three-game sweep against UTRGV in Edinburg last weekend. For the season, the Demons are 13-4 on their home turf.
Senior Thomas Marsala III leads NSU with eight home runs and 34 RBI while his 30 runs scored are tied for tops on the team. The Demons lead the SLC with a team ERA of 4.20 while limiting opposing hitters to just a .243 batting average. Freshman left-hander Brody Trosclair owns a 5-1 record on the mound and a 1.89 ERA in 38 innings pitched, striking out 55 with just 11 walks.
The Huskies took two games off the Demons last season at Husky Field but the Demons own a 19-13 advantage over HCH all-time.
HCU will head to San Marcos, Texas for a Tuesday, Apr. 14, midweek game following this weekend's series before returning home to host New Orleans the following weekend.
