March 13, 2010
Box Score
THIBODAUX - What started as a pitchers' duel early on turned into a slugfest late as the Nicholls State University baseball team (11-3, 2-0 Southland Conference) exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the eighth to fend off the Lamar Cardinals (11-4, 0-2 Southland) for a 12-4 win to clinch the series win on Saturday at Ray E. Didier Field.
The victory stretches the Colonels' winning streak to 11 games, one shy of their longest winning streak in 24 years.
The Colonels looked to be in control early on after plating one in the second on a safety squeeze RBI bunt by Kevin Schlegel to score Adam Miley and make it 1-0. Nicholls stretched their lead to 3-0 in the third.
With runners at second and third and two outs, Miley hit a high chopper up the middle and beat the throw. With Bear Comer and Chase Jaramillo both running on contact, Comer scored easily from third and Jaramillo raced around from second to narrowly beat the throw home to make it 3-0.
However, that would be all the Colonels could get off of Lamar starter Jonathan Dziedzic. The Cardinals' freshman starter kept the Colonels off the board for the remainder of his 7.0 inning outing by striking out ten and walking just two to pitch around six hits.
Fortunately, for the Colonels, junior lefthander Clint Dempster was up for the duel. The Nicholls southpaw held the Cards off the board struck out eight batters and pitched out of jams throughout the day.
However, Lamar finally got on the board in the seventh in Dempster's only bad inning. With two outs, runners at second and third, and the wind howling out to left field at 24 MPH at first pitch, Lamar center fielder Anthony Moore hit a fly ball to left that kept drifting until falling just over the wall for a game-tying three run homer.
Nicholls regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh as Keith Kulbeth plated Bear Comer with an RBI single to make it 4-3. Refusing to go away, the Cardinals tied it again in the top of the eighth on an RBI groundout.
Fortunately, Nicholls wasted little time getting to the Lamar bullpen. Blake Ford came on in relief of Dziedzic to start the eighth and was greeted by a home run from Miley, who went 4-for-5 with four RBI on the day. After a single by Tristan Rogers, Beau Faulk followed with a two-run homer to make it 7-4. Schlegel singled through the right side to chase Ford from the game, but the Colonels weren't done yet.
After Kasey Culverson reached on a fielder's choice, the Colonel right fielder stole second and took third as the throw sailed into center field. Comer brought Culverson home, Jaramillo followed with a base hit. Comer scored as Kulbeth reached on an error, Blake Bergeron extended his hitting streak to 11 with a two-run double and Miley notched his fourth RBI with a base hit to center.
Brad Delatte delivered 1.1 IP of perfect relief, including three strikeouts, to claim the win.
Nicholls will look for a sweep of the Cardinals on Sunday. The finale of the three-game series is set for 1 p.m. at Ray E. Didier Field. A streaming audio webcast will be made available at www.ThibodauxOnline.com
