March 30, 2010

Box Score

HOUMA, La. - The Colonels plated four runs in the bottom of the first, but a pair of costly errors ignited a rally for the Jaguars as the Nicholls State University baseball team (13-11) fell in the finale of a five-game season series against the Southern Jaguars (8-9) by a final of 8-5 on Tuesday night at Southland Field in Houma.

The Colonels moved the games to Houma's Southland Field and drew their largest crowd of the season. However, not even a pro-Nicholls crowd of 406 could help the Colonels stave off the Southern rally.

Nicholls struck first as Kasey Culverson drew a one-out walk and came home to score after the Southern outfield misplayed a Chase Jaramillo single, allowing the ball to roll all the way to the wall. Keith Kulbeth followed with his third homer of the year, a two-run shot, and Adam Miley singled and came home on a base hit by Brady Bourque to make it 4-0.

However, the Jags got on the board with a pair of runs on three hits to make it 4-2 in the second, and Southern took the lead in the fifth. An opportunistic Jaguar lineup made the most of three walks, a balk and an error as Southern plated four runs (three unearned) to take a 6-4 lead.

After a rocky first inning, Jaguar starter Troy LaBorde settled in, going 7.0 IP, striking out six, walking just four and keeping Nicholls off the board the rest of the way.

The Colonels finally broke through again in the bottom of the ninth, however, after putting runners at first and third with no outs, a double play ground ball scored a run and Bear Comer struck out to end the game.

Nicholls and Southern concluded their 2010 season series with Nicholls claiming a 3-2 series win.

Nichols will return to action on Thursday when the Colonels head to Texas-Arlington for a three-game Southland Conference series.