Feb. 8, 2008

Box Score

Houston, Tex. - The Colonels opened the 2008 season with a pair of one-run losses to Houston on Friday evening. Nicholls lost the first game 2-1 and fell in the second 4-3.

In the first game, senior Jessica Barksdale got the start in the circle and threw a total of four innings only allowing two hits in picking up the loss. The two runs that the Cougars picked up against Barksdale came in the first inning and were unearned due to an error that kept the inning alive.

Sophomore Audrey Wood relived Barksdale in the fourth inning, and threw two scoreless and hitless innings in her first time in the circle as a Colonel. Wood also went 2-for-3 at the plate in her first action on the Division I level. Freshman Whitney Roan scored Nicholls' only run in the top of the third in her first collegiate game. Houston's Angel Shamblin got the win as she went the distance allowing four hits, one unearned run, and fanned 12.

Senior Krystalin Ensminger got the start in the second game for the Colonels and went a total of five innings. In those five innings, Ensminger gave up a total of four runs while only two were earned. Coming in to relieve her on the mound was sophomore Lacey Gros, who was suiting up for the first time in a Colonel uniform.

Gros quickly got the first two batters out that she faced in the bottom of the sixth, but allowed the Cougars to load up the bases. With a 4-2 game on the line at the time, the Schriever, La. native rose to the occasion as she fanned Jessica Valis to end the inning. Gros also went 1-for-3 at the plate in the loss.

Powering the Colonels efforts in the game at the plate was senior Amy Thibodeaux as she went 2-for-3 with two homeruns and three RBIs. Thibodeaux hit a two-run bomb opposite field in the top of the fourth that scored Roan, and hit a solo shot in the top of the seventh.

Nicholls will be back in action on Wednesday February 13 for their home-opener against Southern Miss at 6 p.m. GameTracker will be made available at www.geauxcolonels.com for fans to follow the game live statistically.