April 5, 2008

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Corey Arceneaux blasted the first pitch he saw over the right center field wall to lift the Colonels to an 8-5 Southland Conference victory over Lamar Saturday afternoon at Ray E. Didier Field.

"I'm proud of our guys," said head coach Chip Durham. "We had a lot of opportunities to score throughout the game and didn't take advantage of them."

Bryan Myers went the distance for the Colonels on the mound, scattering eight Cardinal hits through nine innings of work. The senior righthander fanned eight batters and walked two, allowing five runs. Myers evens his record at 1-1.

For Lamar, Ricky Testa takes the loss, facing five batters in the ninth issuing two walks and giving up the game-winning homerun.

Nicholls improves to 6-23 (2-9 SLC) on the season, while the Cardinals fall to 19-9 (9-2 SLC).

Down by three in the bottom of the eighth, the Colonels posted four on the board to take a 5-4 lead.

With one out, Keith Kulbeth and Brandt Boudreaux reached on back-to-back infield singles. Lamar loaded the bases, walking Shane Barksdale, and all runners advanced on a wild pitch - giving the Colonels the first run of the inning. Anthony Wray brought Boudreaux around on a sacrifice fly and Patrick Thompson drove an RBI single to right center that plated Barksdale. Nicholls pinch ran Arceneaux for Thompson, and, after back-to-back walks and a hit batter, Arceneaux came around for the fourth run of the inning.

Lamar knotted the game at five-all with a run in the top of the ninth on a solo shot by David Moore.

In the Colonel half of the inning, Kulbeth drew a lead-off walk and was sacrificed over. A batter later, Wray reached on a base-on-balls, bringing Arceneaux to the plate.

"We questioned whether or not to let Arceneaux hit in the ninth after he pinch ran the inning before," Durham said. "But we told him to relax and have fun with it - and he certainly did. He made good, solid contact on it. Whether that ball leaves the park or not, that's the game-winning hit."

Arceneaux finished 1-for-1 with three RBI and two runs scored.

"That's great for Corey," added Durham. "He's a local kid from Houma - but it was a situation where he got a chance to win a ballgame, and he did. I'm proud of our guys for fighting and I hope this can give us a shot in the arm and let our guys realize that they are just as good as any team in our league."

Kulbeth was 2-for-3, driving in a run and scoring twice himself.

The Colonels and Cardinals will meet Sunday at 1 p.m. for the rubber match. Fans can follow the action on-line by clicking the GameTracker link at www.GeauxColonels.com and can listen live on KTIB 640 AM in the Thibodaux area.

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