By: Jason Pugh, Assistant AD for Media Relations
NATCHITOCHES – Twenty-eight home games and nine matchups with NCAA Regional teams highlight Northwestern State's 2024 baseball schedule.
First-year head coach Chris Bertrand announced the 55-game slate Monday.
"The biggest thing is the amount of challenges we are going to face as we go into Southland Conference play," Bertrand said. "We feel those are going to prepare us for that run. The amount of quality opponents we have, the way we feel the schedule will prepare us for a challenging Southland Conference schedule, we feel it's a very good complement."
The Demons' home slate includes seven weekend series, including four against Southland Conference opponents.
After starting the 2023 season with a pair of road trips, Northwestern State opens its 2024 slate with a home series against Southern Illinois from Feb. 16-18. That is one of two home non-conference weekends ahead of Southland Conference play, which will begin at home against Southeastern from March 22-24.
NSU's second non-conference home weekend comes March 1-3 against Troy – one of four NCAA Regional teams that dot Northwestern State's schedule. The Demons cap the season with a three-game, non-conference home series against longtime rival Stephen F. Austin from May 16-18.
NSU's non-conference schedule also includes the first of two trips to Baton Rouge this year for the Demons, who will face Northern Illinois and Stony Brook twice each at LSU's Alex Box Stadium from Feb. 22-24. The Demons will return to Baton Rouge to face the defending national champion Tigers in NSU's final midweek game of the season May 7.
The Demons will face former Northwestern State coaches in back-to-back weekends to close out their pre-Southland Conference schedule as NSU travels to Little Rock from March 8-10 to face former Demon assistant Chris Curry's Trojans. The Demons then face former NSU skipper Lane Burroughs' Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in four straight games, starting with a March 12 midweek game in Natchitoches and continuing with a three-game series in Ruston from March 15-17.
In addition to Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State's slate of midweek games features plenty of familiar faces.
The Demons will host former Southland Conference rival ULM twice in midweek action on Feb. 27 and April 3 and travel to Monroe to face the Warhawks on April 9. The Demons also have home-and-home series with UL Lafayette (Feb. 28 at Lafayette, March 6 in Natchitoches) and Grambling (April 2 at Grambling, April 23 at home) and home midweek matchups with Louisiana Christian (March 26) and LSU-Alexandria (April 16). NSU will make a midweek swing to former Southland rival Sam Houston on March 20.
"It's good all around for the program and for baseball in the state of Louisiana," Bertrand said. "It's great for our players – not only are we facing challenging opponents, but we feel like we're going to travel well. It's good for the local players and for our fan base to be able to travel and see us play a lot of those local opponents. Overall, it's really good for the game in the state of Louisiana. So many people who enjoy college baseball get so many chances to come out on so many occasions and see a quality product on the field."
In addition to hosting Southeastern, the Demons have home Southland Conference series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 5-7), HCU (April 26-28) and New Orleans (May 10-12).
NSU's four road Southland Conference series come at McNeese (March 28-30), at defending SLC champion and tournament champion Nicholls (April 12-14), at UIW (April 19-21) and at Lamar (May 3-5).
"It seems like it's a year in which there is a lot of turnover in the league across the board," Bertrand said. "For us, 36 brand-new players. We've worked our tails off to build a roster that can compete in the league. We're looking forward to seeing how that complementary nature of how we designed the schedule prepares us for what we feel like is a very challenging, competitive Southland Conference schedule."
Season tickets for Northwestern State baseball are on sale now by visiting NSUTickets.com, by calling 318-357-4268 or by visiting the Northwestern State Athletic Ticket Office in person in the Donald G. Kelly Athletic Complex. Single-game tickets will go on sale Feb. 1.
