BATON ROUGE — No. 3 seed Northwestern State (41-19) reliever Blake Jones (7-3) allowed only one hit in five innings pitched and the Demons scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to eliminate No. 4 seed Marist, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
Marist (33-21) saw their 2005 season end, as starter Jonathan Smith (7-2) took the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings.
Demons right fielder Mart Dewees drove in the game-winning run with a no-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning that gave Northwestern State its 4-3 advantage.
The Demons will face loser of Saturday night’s contest between top-seeded LSU and No. 2 seed Rice at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Red Foxes took a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer by Keith Brachold in the top of the first inning off Northwestern State starter Dereck Cloeren. Brachold’s blast to right field was the 262nd hit of his career, moving him into second place in school history.
In the bottom of the second, the Demons put runners on first and second with no outs against Marist starter Jonathan Smith, however, Smith forced a fly ball out and left fielder Miles Durham grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Northwestern State was able to push across their first run in the bottom of the fourth when Mart Dewees doubled to left field to leadoff the inning, advanced to third on deep pop fly out and scored on a single by Bob Barbier to cut the lead to 2-1.
However, Marist answered the run with one of their own in the top of the fifth to move ahead, 3-1. Kevin Grauer was the first of two walks that opened the inning and sent Cloeren to the shower after four innings of work. He was relieved by designated hitter Jones.
After a sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third with one out, Musolf’s ground ball to the shortstop was deep enough to score Grauer from third base.
Northwestern State changed the momentum in the bottom of the fifth with four consecutive hits to start the inning. Hunter Thoms singled, Scott Pittenger doubled and Rusty Jones’ infield single scored Thoms from third. With runners on the corners, Dewees doubled down the right field line to drive in two runs and give the Demons a 4-3 lead.
Smith hit a batter with a 1-2 pitch to load the bases, but stopped the bleeding when Michael Flower grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Marist saw a great opportunity to regain the lead evaporate in the top of the sixth. The Red Foxes loaded the bases after consecutive one-out walks by Jones and a fielding error, however, Joe Sargent’s nubber back to the pitcher allowed the forced out at home plate and Pat Feeney grounded out to first for the third out.
Scott Chambers entered in relief of Smith to start the bottom of the sixth and allowed only two hit and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. Robert Ryan got the last out for the Red Foxes the bottom of the eighth.