THIBODAUX – After the spending the first three weeks on the road, the Nicholls State University softball team will play their home opener when they host conference-foe Sam Houston State (9-14, 2-1 SLC) at the Colonel Softball Complex for a three-game set, starting on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and finishing on Sunday with a single game at 11 a.m.

Nicholls (6-10) will be looking to snap a two-game skid after their upset bid came up short in a 3-2 loss at South Alabama on Wednesday. Although the Jaguars came into the game featuring one the best offenses in the country, hitting .390 as a team and scoring over eight runs per game, the Colonel staff held USA to only six hits in the loss. Nicholls had opportunities to snap the Jaguars' six-game winning streak, but would leave 13 runners stranded on base for the night.

Freshman Brittany Marcet came into the matchup with a .350 batting average, and South Alabama took notice by walking the Pearland, Texas native in all three of her at-bats. Also on Wednesday, junior Megan Gaspard extended her hitting streak to five games with a pair of singles and currently holds the team lead with 19 hits on the year. Rounding out the offensive leaders is junior Ashley Ray, who still maintains the team-lead for home runs (6) and RBIs (20).

The Colonel pitching staff, consisting of senior Carlee Winklemann, sophomore Ashton Bennett, and freshman Katie Moulder, heads into the weekend with a collective 4.10 ERA. Winkleeman produced her best showing of the season against South Alabama, surrendering just one hit in 3.1 innings out of the bullpen.

Sam Houston State opened their conference slate earlier this week at Stephen F. Austin, sweeping the Tuesday doubleheader before dropping the final game on Wednesday.

The long ball has fueled the Bearkat offense in the early going as SHSU has hit a Southland-leading 17 home runs on the year. Hailey Wiginton and Sarah Allison lead the team with four each while Tayler Gray is next with three. Kim Damian sports a team-best .433 average which currently ranks fourth in conference.

Tomi Garrison leads the Bearkat pitchers, coming into the weekend with a 3.00 ERA, six wins and 63 strikeouts, which is third in the Southland Conference. In 10 starts, she has nine complete games and posts a conference-high 81.2 innings pitched.

In last season's matchup in Huntsville, Texas, Sam Houston State won the series 2-1. The Colonels took game one, 4-1, before being shutout in the final two contests.

First pitch for the Colonel home opener on Saturday is set for 1 p.m. Live audio and live stats will be available courtesy of geauxcolonels.com and thibodauxonline.com.

Nicholls will wrap up the weekend series with Sam Houston State on Sunday at 11 a.m. Sunday's contest was moved ahead one hour in order to accommodate Mardi Gras.