FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
NATCHITOCHES – Home series against Jacksonville State, Southern, and Missouri State, in addition to road contests at Arkansas, LSU, and 2011 College World Series participant Texas A&M, highlights the 2012 Northwestern State baseball schedule that was released on Monday.
The 56-game slate includes 30 games played in Brown-Stroud Field, including a season-opening 3-game series against Jacksonville State Feb. 17-19.
“This is a challenging schedule but a good one for us,” said head coach Jon Paul Davis who will be entering his fifth season as the Demons’ skipper. “There are a lot of quality and very good opponents on this schedule. And our non-conference games, you really couldn’t ask for a more enticing group of opponents.”
After the Jacksonville State series, the Demons will travel to Arkansas for a two-game series on Feb. 21-22. The Razorbacks finished second in last year’s Tempe Regional.
The Demons will then return home to host Southern in a three-game series before visiting Texas A&M in a two-game set Feb. 28-29. The Aggies won the College Station Regional before beating Florida State 2-out-of-3 games in the Super Regionals to advance to the World Series. There, the Aggies fell to eventual champion, South Carolina, 5-4 in the opening game, then dropped a 7-3 decision to California in the loser’s bracket contest.
NSU will host Missouri State March 2-4 and will open up Southland Conference play at home against McNeese State March 9-11. Missouri State, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, played in the 2003 College World Series where it lost to champion Rice in the first round and Miami in an elimination game.
In addition to hosting McNeese State, other conference series played in Brown-Stroud Field will be Lamar (March 23-25), Stephen F. Austin (March 20-April 1), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 13-15), Southeastern Louisiana (April 27-29), and 2011 champion Texas State (May 17-19).
The Demons will visit LSU on March 14 at Alex Box Stadium where the Demons beat the Tigers 5-2 last season behind a stellar relief pitching performance from Mason Melotakis. NSU will also visit Southern (March 7), Louisiana Tech (March 27), Louisiana-Monroe (April 3), Grambling (April 10), Louisiana-Lafayette (April 18), and Tulane (April 24) in single-game action.
Other non-conference home games includes single-game contests against Louisiana-Lafayette (March 21), Louisiana-Monroe (April 25), and Louisiana Tech (May 9).
