HAMMOND - With the regular season title out of reach, the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team (34-18, 20-10 Southland Conference) will look to lay claim to the No. 2 seed at the 2009 SLC Tournament when the second-place Lions head to Northwestern State (24-23, 16-12 SLC) for Thursday night's opener of a three-game series that will conlude the Lions' 2009 regular season.

Southeastern enters the weekend in second place in the Southland Conference, 2.5 games behind Texas State who claimed the 2009 SLC regular season championship last weekend.  With Lamar, Texas-San Antonio and Texas-Arlington tied for third 2.0 games behind the Lions, Southeastern can wrap up a No. 2 seed at the SLC Tournament by taking two of three from Northwestern State or with one win against the Demons and one loss each by UTSA, UTA and Lamar.

With the Lions currently 46th in the nation in RPI, Southeastern will also look to help solidify their case for an at-large bid to an NCAA Regional Tournament with a strong showing at Northwestern State.

Southeastern enters the contest after taking two out of three from conference rival Stephen F. Austin over the weekend.  The Lions were on a season-long nine-game winning streak before dropping game one of the three-game set with the Lumberjacks last Friday.  However, Southeastern rallied to take games two and three to enter Thursday's contest as winners of 11 of its last 13, dating back to April 24.

A high-powered Southeastern lineup has led the way over that strecth.  The Lions have hit .331 as a team over their last 13 games and have seen their team batting average rise to .310, the fifth-best mark in the SLC.

Senior infielder Ty Summerlin is the Lions' hottest hitter, riding a 15-game hitting streak into Thursday's series opener.  The Vancleave, Miss. native, who had a 16-game hitting streak as a sophomore in 2007, can tie his career-best hitting streak with a base hit against the Demons.

Summerlin has gone 30-for-65 (.462 BA) with eight doubles, one homer and 18 RBI over the streak, which dates back to April 19.

Thursday's first pitch for the series opener between the Lions and Demons is set for 6:30 p.m.  Live stats and streaming audio play-by-play will be available online at www.LionSports.net, and the game can be heard in the Hammond are on KSLU 90.9 FM.