April 1, 2010
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Senior left handed starter Jarret Dunnam allowed just two runs on eight hits while striking out three over 6.1 IP. However, the Colonel southpaw found himself on the wrong side of a pitchers' duel on Friday night as Texas-Arlington's Jason Mitchell turned in his second complete game shutout of the year as the Nicholls State University baseball team (13-12, 4-6 Southland Conference) fell 4-0 in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series with the Texas-Arlington Mavericks (13-13, 5-5 Southland) at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington on Thursday night.
The Colonels fell victim to one of the Southland's most dominant pitchers on Thursday night. Mitchell came into the game leading the Southland Conference with 52 strikeouts in just 46.0 IP and boasts a one-hit, 18 strikeout, complete game victory over Missouri State on Feb. 26.
The Maverick starter added nine more to his strikeout total on Thursday night, holding the Colonels to three hits while not allowing any walks and hitting just one Colonel batter.
Dunnam matched Mitchell early on, facing just one batter over the minimum over the first 2.0 IP. The Saraland, Ala. native ran into trouble in the third as an RBI double staked UT Arlington to a 1-0 lead. After a scoreless fourth, the Mavs claimed a 2-0 advantage as a wild pitch allowed another run in the fifth.
After recording the first out of the sixth, Dunnam gave way to Cullen Babin. The freshman pitched out of a one-out jam with a runner at third to keep UTA off the board in the seventh before the Mavericks strung together a pair of hits, a walk and took advantage of a Colonel error to bring home two more in the eighth to take a 4-0 lead.
Nicholls threatened in the first as Chase Jaramillo singled and advanced to second with two outs. The Colonels also threatened to get on the board in the fifth (Adam Miley led off with an infield hit), eighth (Beau Faulk hit by a pitch with one out) and ninth (Bear Comer beat out an infield single with one out).
However, Mitchell pitched out of every minor jam and retired the side in order five times on the night.
The Colonels will try to even the series at one game each when the series resumes on Friday. Game two is set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. Thibodaux native Clint Dempster (who ranks third in the conference in strikeouts) is set to take the mound against UTA's Rhett Varner.
Live stats will be available courtesy of Gametracker at www.geauxcolonels.com or www.utamavs.com, and a streaming audio webcast will be made available at www.ThibodauxOnline.com.
