LAKE CHARLES, La. – Fourth seed New Orleans held off a late rally by fifth seed Northwestern State to win 4-3 and advance to the winners’ bracket semifinal of the 2023 Southland Conference Baseball Championship on Thursday.
 
The Privateers are now 35-22 overall and will face top seed Nicholls in the winners’ bracket semifinal at 11 a.m. Friday, with the winner advancing to Championship Saturday. The Demons are now 28-26 and will tangle with sixth seed McNeese in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game plays the loser of the opener in an elimination game at 6 p.m.
 
The game was a back and forth affair, with the Privateers drawing first blood on Mitchell Sanford’s RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the first to plate Kasten Furr.
 
Northwestern State took the lead in the top of the second after Daunte Stuart was hit by a pitch and Jake Haze doubled to put two runners in scoring position. They came home on an RBI single by Bo Willis and a RBI fielder’s choice by Gray Rowlett to put the Demons up 2-1.
 
UNO tied the game up in the bottom of the fourth inning, Miguel Useche led off with a walk and singles by Anthony Herron, Jr. and Jorge Tejeda loaded the bases with one out. Issac Williams fell behind in the count 0-2 but then drew four straight balls for an RBI walk to make it 2-2. The rally was snuffed on a lineout double play by Furr to end the frame.
 
Both team stranded runners at third in the fifth inning and the Privateers pulled ahead in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Furr. The lead was extended to 4-2 in the seventh on a run-scoring double to left-center by Herron.
 
Northwestern State threatened to extend the game in the ninth, starting with a leadoff solo homer to left field by pinch hitter Broch Holmes to cut the lead to 4-3. Jacob Farrell doubled and was advanced to third with two outs, but a groundout ended the game just short of the tie.
 
For New Orleans, reliever Caleb Seroski earned the win to move to 4-1, allowing one run on the ninth inning homer in three-plus innings. Furr, Herron, and Tejeda all had two hits in the game for the Privateers. Nolan Daniel got the final three batters of the game out to earn his first save of the year.
 
For Northwestern State, Alex Makarewich was hit with the loss to fall to 5-5, allowing three runs in 6.0 innings on eight hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Six different Demons had one hit apiece.