THIBODAUX - On the brink of consecutive Southland Conference Tournament trips for the first time in school history, the Nicholls State University baseball team (20-21, 9-12 Southland Conference) hopes a strong showing in a three-game series against Texas-San Antonio (19-23, 11-10 Southland Conference), beginning with a 6 p.m. first pitch in the series opener on Friday night at Ray E. Didier Field, will help the Colonels improve their postseason chances in the middle of a tight Southland Conference Tournament race.

With 12 conference games remaining, and the teams with the top eight conference records advancing to the postseason tournament, the Colonels begin the weekend in a four-way tie for seventh place with Lamar, Central Arkansas and McNeese State.  However, Nicholls remains just 1.0 game behind this weekend's opponent, sixth-place Texas-San Antonio.

The standings are further crowded with Southeastern Louisiana, Sam Houston State and Texas-Arlington in a three-way tied for third with 12-9 conference records, leaving third through tenth place in the league standings separated by just 3.0 games with 12 games left on the conference slate.

The weekend promises to be a matchup of one of the league's best hitting teams, and one of the Southland's hottest pitching staffs.  The Roadrunners enter the weekend boasting a .297 team batting average.  UTSA's lineup is led by Riley Good, who ranks fifth in the conference with a .374 batting average.  Good's 68 hits lead the conference and rank sixth nationally.  Good is backed up by Ryan Dalton, the Roadrunners' top power hitter.  Dalton's nine home runs place him in the top 40 in the nation and rank him third in the league.

Meanwhile, Nicholls answers with a pitching staff that dominated Sam Houston State, the second best hitting team in the Southland Conference, in a three-game series last weekend.  Junior right handed pitcher Seth Webster and junior lefty Mike Wisecarver each delivered a complete game shutout of the Bearkats and senior right hander Brian Arceneaux allowed only two earned runs in his outing as Nicholls took two-of-three from the Bearkats and Webster earned Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

However, UTSA boasts plenty of momentum of its own as the Roadrunners come in having gone 10-2 in their last 12 conference games, including a three-game sweep of Lamar in their last conference series.

First pitch for the series opener against the Roadrunners is set for 6 p.m. at Ray E. Didier Field on Friday night.  Game two is set for a 3 p.m. start time on Saturday with Sunday's series finale slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.  Live stats and free live streaming audio webcasts of each game will be made available at www.geauxcolonels.com and www.ThibodauxOnline.com.