Box Score and Play-by-Play

THIBODAUX - Junior right hander Seth Webster handcuffed the Texas-Arlington lineup, throwing 9.0 IP for the second straight outing.  Unfortuantely, after the Nicholls right hander held the Mavericks to one run on three hits over nine innings, UTA scored four runs off the Colonel bullpen in the top of the tenth inning as the Nicholls State University baseball team (10-15, 1-9 Southland Conference) fell to UT Arlington (15-11, 7-3 Southland Conference) by a final of 5-1 in ten innings on Friday night at Ray E. Didier Field.

Webster led the way for the Colonels, logging his second consecutive 9.0 IP outing.  The junior right hander retired the side in order on four occasions, and utilized an inning-ending double play to face the minimum in a fifth.  Webster cruised through the UTA lineup, retiring 15 of the final 18 batters he faced after allowing a sacrifice fly in the third inning for the only Maverick run in the first nine innings.

Nicholls jumped out to an early lead as junior designated hitter Jeremy Hill drilled a two-out double down the left field line in the bottom of the first before coming home on an RBI double off the bat of junior first baseman Blake Bergeron that was the result of three Maverick defenders converging in short left field and misplaying a fly ball.  Bergeron's bloop double brought home Hill and staked Nicholls to a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play.

Unfortunately, for the Colonels, Maverick starter Lance Day settled in after that, pitching all 10.0 innings and retiring 23 of the final 26 batters he faced.  Day, who came into the game with a 2.66 ERA, ranking seventh in the Southland Conference, held Nicholls to just three hits and two walks while racking up six strikeouts on the night.

After the Mavericks tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, Webster did his job, keeping UTA off the board for the rest of his outing before yielding to junior left handed reliever Brad Delatte in the top of the tenth inning. 

Delatte struck out the first two batters he faced, but a two-out walk was followed by a sharp single to left to put runners the go ahead run in scoring position.  Delatte induced a chopper toward the mound from the next batter, but the ball tipped off his glove and past a diving Philip Lyons at second base to bring home the go-ahead run.

However, the Mavericks weren't done yet as a walk loaded the bases, an RBI single just out of the reach of a diving Lyons at second base and a strikeout-wild pitch combined to plate three more runs for the Mavs and put UTA up 5-1 before freshman right hander Dylan Delaune came in to record the final out of the tenth.

Nicholls threatened in the bottom of the tenth as Bergeron led off by reaching on catcher's interference.  Senior right fielder Scott Moseley followed by driving a sharp grounder to the right side that nearly got through the infield, but was snagged by UTA second baseman Daniel Jordan who threw out Moseley while Bergeron advanced.  Another hard hit grounder off the bat of junior left fielder Michael LeGrange was snared by UTA third baseman Brian Nephew for out number two, and Lyons followed by drilling a hard line drive off the thigh of Day that the Maverick right hander was able to chase down and deliver to first for the final out.

The Colonels will try to even the series at one game apiece when Nicholls squares off against UTA with a first pitch for game two of the series set for 3 p.m. on Saturday at Ray E. Didier Field.