New look Demons sure to create excitement on the diamond

Don’t look now, but baseball season is creeping up.

The Northwestern State Demons capped off their 2006 fall practice schedule last Saturday with the annual home run derby and the new season is now just three months away.

The Demons, who return just 12 players and two starters (pitchers Drew Brown and Fraser Robinson) from last year’s SLC tournament title game appearance team, welcomed a slew of newcomers when fall practiced began the first part of October.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces,” said NSU head coach Mitch Gaspard. “But these guys love to compete. That’s what’s so exciting about this team.”

Headlining the list is shortstop transfer Brandon Richey from LSU-Eunice. Richey earned JUCO All-American honors last season after leading the Bengals to the JUCO World Series championship. He batted .424 behind a school record 98 hits, 21 doubles, 32 stolen bases, 85 runs scored, and a .514 on-base percentage. His .693 slugging percentage ranks second on the LSUE records chart while his 11 home runs last season ranks third.

Also signing with the Demons from that team is first baseman Leonard Porché. Porché hit .358 last season with nine home runs and 56 RBI – third most in school history.

Dylan Libadisos, this year’s home run derby champion, joins the team from Highland Community College where he earned All-American Honorable Mention honors along with first team All-Conference and All-Region accolades. He was named the Region IV MVP after belting 13 home runs and 47 RBI with a .385 batting average.

Two left-handed pitchers, Jason Grace and Jason Troth, are expected to make an immediate impact for the 2007 season.

Grace, a transfer from Seminole State in Oklahoma, helped his team to a conference championship after posting a 2-2 record with a 2.25 ERA. He whiffed 30 batters in 32 innings pitched and posted an amazing 0.25 ERA in conference games.

Troth tossed 82.2 innings at Weatherford College, posting a 7-3 record and a 3.05 ERA. He also finished 6-1 in conference games.

Although the 2007 schedule has not been officially released, I can fill you in on a few dates.

NSU will host the 2007 Southland Conference baseball tournament May 23-26. It’s the second time in three seasons the Demons have hosted the event.

The Demons will kick off the season with the NSU Round Robin Feb. 9-11 with Texas State and Dallas Baptist visiting.

Mar. 6 will be a big home game with Louisiana-Lafayette visiting and NSU will host SLC foes Southeastern Louisiana (Mar. 23-25), Stephen F. Austin (Apr. 6-8), Nicholls State (Apr. 20-22), Sam Houston State (May 4-6), and newcomer Central Arkansas (May 17-19).

Attractive road games have the Demons playing at the Southern Miss tournament (Feb. 16-18), at LSU (Feb. 21) and in a three-game series at Houston (Mar. 2-4).

Check back on nsudemons.com in a few days to find the complete schedule along with the 2007 roster and player profiles.

Costume memories

Coach Scott Stoker with 6 year old daughter Zoe - who is dressed as Demon Quarterback Roch Charpentier


Demons on Halloween. Spooky, huh? Hilarious may be closer to the truth.

Tuesday brought us former Lady Demon basketball player Katie Harris, in her first year assisting Chuck Bourg in managing the NSU athletic facilities, dressed up to look like Chuck.

She had a beard marked on her face. She was wearing a pale white skull cap to reflect Chuck’s shaved (perhaps\ partially balding) head. And, of course, she was working hard.

All in all, a nice effort from Katie, whose favorite Halloween costume growing up was a California raisin.

There were many different responses to a quick survey of athletic department employees Tuesday afternoon. A couple costumes kept coming up – Superman (Lady Demon basketball assistant coach David Aguilar, Demon hoops assistant Jeff Moore and assistant athletic trainer David Berkeley-Tuckmayer) and a scary witch (Lady Demon assistant basketball coach Trina Frierson, assistant athletic trainers Erica Hargis and Stephanie Rogers).

Speaking of scary, Demon Sports Network play by play man Patrick Netherton’s favorite costume growing up was his portrayal of Jason Voorhies from the “Friday the 13th” movie series, complete with hockey mask.

Basketball coach Mike McConathy said his favorite costume really fit under the Superman category. No, it wasn’t an Opie outfit – that wouldn’t have been dressing up. He liked being a Pittsburgh Steeler football player, and nobody other than athletic director Greg Burke (an avowed Cleveland Browns fan) could argue.

Speaking of rough and tumble get-ups, how about wearing wrestling gear? That was Lady Demon volleyball coach Brittany Uffelman, whose dad is one of the great prep wrestling coaches in Wyoming history.

On the other hand … her assistant coach, Mandy Paulson, was a Cabbage Patch kid … Lady Demon basketball coach Jennifer Graf had her strawberry shortcake costume, growing up in strawberry land outside Loranger … football, baseball and track administrative assistant Elizabeth Holloway was a little Geisha girl … Liz Yeaman, who keeps the athletic administrative staff straight, was Raggedy Ann.

We found two hobos – Liz’s assistant, Alison Cadwallader, and Cathy Martin, the men’s basketball administrative assistant. There were two Cleopatra’s as well – softball player Kristen Lindley, who assists in the athletic offices, and assistant trainer Katie Cooper.

Head athletic trainer Ed Evans remembers being a cowboy, as does assistant men’s basketball coach Mark Slessinger. Compliance coordinator Dustin Eubanks enjoyed being a pirate (now he’s quite the opposite, but he is a Pittsburgh Pirates fanatic) and also Spiderman (he still shows great stick-to-it tenacity).

Academic advisor and senior woman administrator Julie Lessiter recalls dressing as a skeleton before Halloween was discontinued in England due to hooliganism. Speaking of scary – Greg Burke liked his ghost getup.

Our buddy Coach Black grinned remembering his tiger costume. Wide receivers coach Broderick Fobbs recalls being The Incredible Hulk. Assistant sports performance coach Ben Larson once dressed up as a shark. Basketball assistant Bob Austin was Ernie, of Sesame Street fame.

There couldn’t have been a better fit than the angel costume on Gerri Lacour, the administrative assistant to the office of athletic services.

Ticket manager Zach Williams was a Rubik’s Cube. Marketing and promotions director Tenille Barmore was “Popple.” Softball player and administrative office assistant Cary Bruno loved her sunflower costume.

Sports information administrative assistant Ronnette Pellegrin was a mad scientist. Assistant SID Matt Bonnette was a vampire many times, complete with face paint and hair dye. His brother Michael, now the SID at LSU, once was a mummy, wrapped up in actual athletic tape. Taking off that costume assured it was a one-time-only event.

SID and marketing interim Brian Seiler and his SID student assistant buddy Adam Jonson both were football players. Assistant trainer Jason Parker was a baseball player.

Me? I remember wearing my dad’s World War II Army Air Force pilot’s gear, complete with the radio headset he used flying Gen. Hap Arnold around South America. I still have the jacket and cap.

Assistant football coach Johnny Nagle said he was so old that they didn’t have Halloween growing up in Gloster, Miss.

Demon football coach Scott Stoker was typically stoic and wouldn’t spill the beans on his childhood attire, but he melted like a Hershey bar in a microwave when asked about his 6-year-old daughter Zoe. They went trick-or-treating last night. Want to guess what she went as?

But of course – a football player. And not just a random player.

No, not number 10 for Daddy. Number 15, Roch Charpentier’s jersey!

Back in business

After a hiatus brought about by the production of basketball media guides and the hubbub of homecoming preparations, we’ll resume the (almost) daily diary entries here – we promise.

Trust me; the delay hasn’t been due to a lack of information, just our inability to find time to pass it along. We’ll do better.

There’s a mental scrapbook full of homecoming scenes and reunions. There’s plenty of notes to catch up on, and who knows what the next hour will bring!

BTW, take a few minutes Wednesday at 2 to drop by www.nsudemons4kids.com as we host our first chat session, this one featuring senior defensive end Ed Queen. We’re going to be featuring lots of Demons visiting online with kids in upcoming weeks on this new and wonderful site.

Back with more later!