CORPUS CHRSITI – Northwestern State picked up its second consecutive, three-game Southland Conference sweep on Saturday when the Demons held on to defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7-6.
And while doing so, NSU closer Chad Sheppard earned his 10th save of the season as he tied the school’s single-season record set by Daniel Desclouds in 2005.
The win pushed the Demons over the .500 mark for the first time in a month as they improve to 24-23 overall. They bettered their conference record to 16-12 after winning their sixth straight league game. Corpus fell to 17-36 overall and 8-22 in the league.
“Overall, I’m happy with the way we played today,” said head coach J.P. Davis. “We played hard in all areas of the game. We got a lot of hits, but we also left a few guys on base. But we got the job done when we needed to.”
Starting pitcher Trevor Geist did about as well as he could from a pitcher getting his first career start. Geist threw five innings and allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in getting the no-decision.
“He did a nice job today,” Davis said of Geist. “It was his first start at this level after he’s been pitching in a relief role all season.”
Andrew Plotkin improved his record to 3-0 after he threw just the sixth inning, but got some offensive fire-power in the top of the seventh by the Demons to rally from a 3-1 deficit to take a 6-3 lead.
NSU belted 16 hits in the game with second baseman Chase Lyles, first baseman Justin O’Neal and right fielder Eric DeBlanc each getting three hits.
DeBlanc knocked two solo home runs in the game and Lyles’ solo homer in the top of the ninth inning, his 10th of the season, proved to be the difference in the game.
"He really had a tremendous series," said Davis of DeBlanc. He was seeing the ball really well and just did a nice job getting the bat on the ball.
“Getting a sweep on the road is huge,” said Davis. “We’ve been playing well here lately. It wasn’t a pretty game, but it’s a win.”
Trailing 3-1 heading into the seventh, the first six batters for the Demons got a hit, including a lead off home run by DeBlanc. Center fielder Dominic Gamboa followed with a hit he legged out on a grounder to third base, but two errant throws by the Islanders’ third and first basemen allowed Gamboa to round the bags to score and tie the game at 3-3.
NSU catcher Garret Vaughan followed with a single then stole second. He scored to put the Demons up 4-3 on a ground-rule double by shortstop Dan Meyer. Lyles followed with a double to right field to score Meyer and a RBI single by O’Neal put the Demons up 6-3.
NSU reliever Kyle Broughton threw the seventh and eighth innings and allowed one run on two hits and Sheppard came in to close out the game for his record-tying 10th save.
“It’s quite an accomplishment for him,” Davis said of Sheppard. “Hopefully, he’ll have some opportunities to break that in the next couple of weeks. He’s had a nice year so far.”
The Demons close out the regular season this coming week with four home games. NSU will host Jackson State at 6:30 on Tuesday before beginning a three-game conference series against Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday at 6:30.
Photo Credit: Gary Hardamon
