CORPUS CHRISTI – Late Friday night, Northwestern State did little celebration after it learned it had clinched a spot in the Southland Conference postseason baseball tournament.
But on Saturday, the team rejoiced after Demon senior starting pitcher Jimmy Heard became the team’s most worked hurler in school history when he set a new career record in innings pitched after his seven-inning, 15-2 complete game win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
And with his four strikeouts, he tied NSU’s career mark, a record that should fall next Friday when the Demons host Southeastern Louisiana.
“When you speak of Jimmy Heard, there are three things you think of,” said Demon head coach J.P. Davis. “First, he’s a fourth year senior with experience. Second, he’s a competitor. And third, he’s got the stuff to make a great pitcher.”
Heard improved to 7-3 on the season after the Demons (23-23, 15-12 SLC) won their fifth consecutive conference game. He threw all seven innings giving him 324.2 in his career, and his four punchouts tied the record of 235. Both records were set by David Balcer set from 1996-99.
The win was also Heard’s 26th in his career, just three victories off of the career record of 29 set by Billie Roy Cook exactly 50 years ago.
But Heard was just part of the dominance NSU displayed on Saturday.
“Like I’ve said all year, when you get a good start on the mound, good things happen,” said Davis.
The Demons pounded 15 hits to go along with the 15 runs. First baseman Justin O’Neal went 2-for-3 from the plate with a career-high seven RBIs – one off of the NSU single game record of eight. He belted his team-leading 11th home run of the season and second of the series.
Right fielder Eric DeBlanc had a 4-for-4 game with three runs scored and a double and second baseman Chase Lyles, center fielder Dominic Gamboa and catcher Miles Parsons each had two hits. All but one batter in the lineup had a hit and all but one scored at least one run.
TAMUCC (17-35, 8-21 SLC) never had a chance with the dominance Heard showed on the mound. The Islanders, who will host the league’s postseason tournament in two weeks, had just six hits in the game and didn’t score until plating two runs off of three hits in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Starting pitcher Roy Ferdin (2-7) took the loss after he gave up five runs on five hits in three innings of work.
The Demons scored quickly when Dan Meyer led the game off with a double and scored on an O’Neal grounder. Lance Lacoste, who knocked in five runs in Friday’s 8-7 win, hit a two-out double to score Joe Urtuzuastegui to make it 2-0.
In the second, the Demons went up 3-0 after DeBlanc hit a one-out double then scored on a two-out wild pitch.
O’Neal blasted a two-run homer in the third to put the Demons up 5-0 then the first six batters in the fourth inning reached base to open the flood gates as NSU scored four runs in the inning to take a 9-0 lead.
NSU scored its 10th run in the sixth inning when Lyles hit a two-out ground-rule double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored off a sacrifice fly by O’Neal, putting into play the 10-run mercy rule.
O’Neal knocked in his sixth and seventh runs of the game on a single in the seventh to help fuel a five-run inning as the Demons went up 15-0.
The Demons will go for the series sweep on Sunday at 1. NSU will start Trevor Geist on the mound for his first weekend start of the season.
Photo Credit: Gary Hardamon
