May 27, 2010
Box Score
CORPUS CHRISTI - The No. 8 seeded Nicholls State University baseball team (27-28) jumped out to an early lead, but the No. 5 seeded Texas-Arlington Mavericks used a three-run seventh to rally for a 5-4 win on the second day of the 2010 Southland Conference Tournament at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday night.
The loss to the Mavericks sets up a rematch between the Colonels and the No. 1 seed and regular season tournament champion Texas State on Friday with a scheduled first pitch of Noon.
Nicholls will look to regain the form that saw them notch a 13-2 upset over the Bobcats in 8.0 innings on Wednesday's first day.
The Colonels jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Bear Comer and Keith Kulbeth led off the inning with consecutive singles. A walk to Adam Miley loaded the bases, and a Maverick error off the bat of Beau Faulk brought home two Comer and Kulbeth to put Nicholls out in front.
Nicholls starter Tyler Minto started strong, facing just one batter over the minimum en route to holding UTA to five runs on ten hits while walking just two and striking out six over his 6.2 IP.
However, Minto ran into trouble as Brian Nephew put UTA on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the third. After a scoreless fourth, Michael Choice tied things up with an RBI triple to make it 2-2 and put the Mavericks right back in it.
Meanwhile, after allowing two runs in the first, Maverick starter Rett Varner settled in. The UTA right hander limited Nicholls to six hits and just one earned run over his 7.0 IP of work and kept the Colonels off the board from the second through the sixth.
Nicholls finally broke through against Varner again in the seventh, stringing together three hits and taking advantage of a Maverick error to score a pair of unearned runs and go up 4-2.
However, the Mavericks struck back in the bottom of the seventh. Nephew started the rally with a leadoff single, but Minto coaxed a flyout to center for out number one before inducing what looked like an inning-ending double play ball. However, UTA leadoff man Jesse Payne beat out the relay throw to keep the inning alive.
The Mavericks took advantage of the opportunity as Jordan Vaughn singled, Michael Choice drew a walk to load the bases. Preston Beck and Steffan Guest followed with base hits to plate three UTA two-out runs and put the Mavericks up 5-4.
Nicholls tried to rally in the eighth as Chase Jaramillo singled to center with two outs. Kevin Schlegel followed with a base hit to right, but Jaramillo was thrown-out trying to take third to end the inning.
The Colonels tried to mount one last comeback attempt in the top of the ninth. Kulbeth, who stretched his hitting streak to 14 (the longest this year by a Colonel), notched his third hit of the day with two outs in the ninth to get things started. Miley followed with a single of his own to put the tying run in scoring position, but Maverick reliever Logan Bawcom coaxed a groundout from Beau Faulk to end it.
Nicholls will now try to stay alive at the double-elimination tournament when they square off against the Bobcats for the second time in three days. The Colonels will be in search of their fourth consecutive win against Texas State in the second game of the day at Whataburger Field.
A win over the Colonels would keep Nicholls alive for a rematch with the Mavericks at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Colonels would need to win four straight games to win the 2010 Southland Conference Tournament.
Live stats and streaming video of every pitch of the 2010 Southland Conference Tournament is available at www.southland.org, and every pitch of every Colonel game can be heard at www.ThibodauxOnline.com.
