THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University baseball team (23-27, 12-18 Southland Conference) will try to keep their postseason hopes alive as the Colonels host McNeese State (26-27, 14-16 Southland Conference) in a three-game Southland Conference series that will conclude the 2011 regular season beginning with a 6 p.m. first pitch in game one on Thursday night.

After being swept by Southland Conference leader, and No. 25 ranked Texas State, on the road in San Marcos, Texas last weekend, the Colonels dropped to 11th place in the league standings.  However, in one of the most crowded conference races in the country, the Colonels remain just 2.0 games out of a three-way tie for the sixth, seventh and eighth spots at the eight-team conference tournament.

In order to qualifiy for consecutive Southland Conference Tournaments for the first time in school history, the Colonels will need to sweep the three-game series with the Cowboys, and get some help from around the league. 

If Nicholls sweeps McNeese and tenth-place Central Arkansas sweeps Texas-San Antonio (currently tied with Lamar and McNeese for the sixth, seventh and eight seeds), then the Colonels will need second place Stephen F. Austin to sweep Lamar and at least one loss by Texas-Arlington to regular season champion Texas State.

If Nicholls sweeps McNeese and tenth-place Central Arkansas does not sweep UTSA, then the Colonels will need either an SFA sweep of Lamar or at least one loss by UT Arlington at Texas State.

This week's series at Ray E. Didier Field will feature some of the league's top hitters against some of the league's best pitchers.  McNeese is led by Seth Granger (third in the conference with a .366 batting average), Lee Orr (league leader with 23 doubles) and Jace Peterson (league leader with eight triples and thrid in the conference with 27 steals).

Meanwhile, the Colonels are hoping their pitching staff will return to form led by junior right hander Seth Webster.  Webster enters Thursday night's matchup ranked second in the conference with a 2.59 ERA.  The Delville, La. native leads the league with five complete games and has won Southland Conference PItcher of the Week twice this season.

Webster is backed up by junior left hander Patrick Shreve who continues to progress after missing nearly a month with an arm injury, and junior left hander Mike Wisecarver.

First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday night at Ray E. Didier Field.   Thursday night's series opener will be the Colonels' inaugural Bat Against Breast Cancer Game.  Nicholls will wear pink jerseys sponsored by Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, which will be auctioned off that night.  Silent bids will be collected on each game-word pink jersey throughout the game with the highest bid serving as the starting point for a live auction after the conclusion of the game.  All proceeds from the auction will benefit breast cancer research.

Nicholls and McNeese will continue their three-game series with a 6 p.m. first pitch scheduled for game two on Friday night, and Saturday's Senior Day game and regular season finale is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

Links to live stats and live streaming audio play-by-play will be made available at www.geauxcolonels.com and at www.ThibodauxOnline.com.