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Sent: Fri, May 16, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Subject: Baseball — Demons drop SLC Tournament pitchers’ duel to New Orleans
Photo: Tyler Bryan allowed two runs in six innings Friday night. Credit: Southland Conference



HAMMOND – The razor-thin margin that determines so many postseason contests cut the Northwestern State baseball team Friday night.



Facing the same situation they had a day before – down by a run entering the ninth – the Demons were unable to conjure another memorable rally and fell to New Orleans, 3-2, in the winners’ bracket game of the Hammond Bracket of the Southland Conference Tournament at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.



“Games like this, when the stakes are what they are, there’s such a razor-thin margin for error,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We just had some mistakes that were made in some of the game’s most critical moments. We can’t make those if we want a different result.”



The fourth-seeded Demons (34-20) will take on top seed and tournament host Southeastern Louisiana at 1 p.m. Saturday in an elimination game. The winner of that has to beat New Orleans twice to reach next week’s Southland Conference Tournament championship series.



Privateer left-hander Hayden O’Dell (3-0) turned in his longest effort of the season, working 7 1-3 innings of two-run ball to put New Orleans (27-24) in the most advantageous position within the four-team bracket.



O’Dell scattered three hits and walked one while striking out four, coming out on top of a pitchers’ duel with Demon right-hander Tyler Bryan (2-7).



Through five innings, the only run of the game came off the bat of New Orleans first baseman/closer Bryce Calloway, who turned around a Bryan fastball on the outer half and drove it out to right field for a 1-0 lead.



That lead stood until Balin Valentine’s two-out RBI single in the sixth put Northwestern State on the board.



The Demons had a couple of earlier opportunities to dent the scoreboard against O’Dell, who stiffened with runners in scoring position. Before Valentine broke through, Northwestern had been 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position against O’Dell.



After Valentine tied the game, the Privateers took advantage of two walks and a wild pitch to regain the lead on a Tristan Moore sacrifice fly in the sixth.



“I thought our guys played their tails off from an effort and intensity standpoint,” Bertrand said. “It’s just that, if you’re going to play a 3-2 ball game and there are going to be that many zeroes and ones, if you want that razor-thin margin to be on your side, those moments are critical and they have to be done a little bit better.”



For the second time in as many tournament games, the Privateers also benefited from some good fortune. A night after Calloway turned a fly ball that was lost in the sun into an inside-the-park home run, New Orleans’ final run came on a play where no Demon initially saw a fly ball to center field that fell for an RBI single.



A perfect throw from center fielder Reese Lipoma cut down a potential second run at the plate to keep it a two-run game.



Northwestern began to solve O’Dell in the eighth as Lipoma was robbed of extra bases by a lunging catch by right fielder Collin Husser immediately before Samuel Stephenson blasted his 10th home run of the season to right field to drive O’Dell from the game.



“I thought they responded well tonight,” Bertrand said. “I thought we hit some balls on the barrel in the first couple of innings, and we didn’t have anything to show for it. I’m really proud of our guys for sticking with the approach. We never had an exorbitant amount of strikeouts. All of our swings were balanced and had good intent behind. Our offense stuck with the approach, and it’s unfortunate we didn’t have anything to show for it.



“That has nothing to do with the people or the faces. It’s just that if we want a different result out of a 3-2 postseason baseball game – in those moments that are critical offensively, on the mound and defensively – we’ve just got to sharpen it up in those high-stakes moments.”



New Orleans 3, Northwestern State 2

NSU      000 001 010 – 2 3 0

UNO     000 101 10x – 3 6 1

W – Hayden O’Dell (3-0). L – Tyler Bryan (2-7). S – Bryce Calloway (10). HR – NSU, Samuel Stephenson (10). UNO, Bryce Calloway (17).

Records: Northwestern State 34-20; New Orleans 27-24.