April 20, 2008

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - The Colonels held the lead through seven innings, but Northwestern scored two in the eighth to take the lead and the win 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Ray E. Didier Field.

Nicholls drops to 6-34 (2-16 SLC) on the year with the loss, while the Demons improve to 21-17 (12-5 SLC).

Clayton Cooper picked up the win for Northwestern, improving to 5-1 on the season with a complete game. Cooper allowed three runs on eight hits, struck out five and issued just one walk through his nine innings of work.

For Nicholls, Seth Webster falls to 1-5 after 7.1 innings of seven-hit baseball. The freshman gave up four runs (three earned), two base-on-balls and fanned three.

"I'm very proud of Webster," said head coach Chip Durham. "He threw a great ballgame and deserved the win. But they scored that one unearned run and we walked that run in and those are the difference in the game."

The Colonels jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the third as Walter Jones, Brandt Boudreaux and Brett Hoeflich all reached on singles through the left side, before Anthony Wray drove a double to the gap in right center field that plated two runs.

But Northwestern chipped away at Nicholls' lead with a run in the fourth on a solo homer by Chase Lyles and the sixth on an RBI single by Anthony Jones.

The Demons took the lead in the eighth after back-to-back singles put runners in scoring position before the Colonels walked two-straigh to bring in the tying run. The next batter flied out to center, but the ball was deep enough to score the winning run, giving Northwestern a 4-3 advantage.

"We should have on this game 3-2 instead of losing 4-3," added Durham. "My hat's off to Northwestern. They stayed at it, competed and did what they had to do to win the game."

Hoeflich, Wray and Keith Kulbeth all went 2-for-4 on the day, Wray with a pair of RBI.

With the exception of one runner in the fifth, the Colonels did not have a baserunner reach scoring position after the third inning.

The Colonels will travel to New Orleans on Wednesday to play Loyola at 6:30 p.m.

Fans can listen live locally on KTIB 640 AM or on the internet at www.ThibodauxOnLine.com.

"We should have on this game 3-2 instead of losing 4-3. My hat's off to Northwestern. They stayed at it, competed and did what they had to do to win the game."