Box Score and Play-by-Play

THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University baseball team (26-27, 15-18 Southland Conference) struck first, McNeese State (26-30, 14-19 Southland Conference) rallied to take the lead, but the Colonels had one last charge in them as the Colonels scored in the seventh and eighth to force extra innings before junior designated hitter Jeremy Hill dribbled a two-out RBI single through the right side to score senior center fielder Bear Comer with the game-winning run in the bottom of the tenth on Saturday at Ray E. Didier Field.

The 4-3 extra-inning win, coupled with a Texas State win over Texas-Arlington gave the Colonels the No. 8 seed at the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament next week in San Marcos, Texas.  It marks the first time in school history that the Colonels have qualified for consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearances.

The Colonels struck first as Comer led off the bottom of the first with a base hit before coming home to score on an RBI sacrifice fly by Hill, giving Nicholls a 1-0 lead.  It would be the first of four hits on the day for Comer, who went 4-for-5 with a double and three singles.  The senior center fielder recorded three of the Colonels' four runs on the afternoon.

With an early lead, Nicholls junior left handed starter Mike Wisecarver settled in.  The Colonels also played stellar defense behind Wisecarver early on, turning three double plays in the first five innings.  Junior left fielder Mike Barba also delivered an early highlight, throwing out Cowboy shorstop Jace Peterson at the plate to end the first inning and increase Nicholls national leading outfield assist total to 25.

Wisecarver kept the Cowboys off the board through the first five frames, but McNeese finally broke through in the sixth.  A leadoff walk was followed by a sacrifice bunt and a base hit up the middle to put runners at first and second.  Peterson then tied things up with an RBI single to make it 1-1.

Wisecarver looked like he was about to escape without any further damage with what would have been his fourth double play ball of the day.  However, after junior first baseman Blake Bergeron handled a slow chopper to third and stepped on the bag, the throw to first went wide and allowed the inning to continue.  A sinking line drive off the bat of Seth Granger landed just in front of Comer in center field to score two more runs and put McNeese up 3-1.

However, the Colonels struck back in the bottom of the seventh.  Bergeron atoned for the error with a one-out double to the gap in right center.  Senior right fielder Scott Moseley advanced Bergeron to third on a groundout and a two-out single to right off the bat of Faulk scored Bergeron with two-outs to make it 3-2.

The Colonels struck again in the bottom of the eighth as, with two outs, Comer drove a hard grounder up the middle.  Peterson made a diving stop but his throw sailed wide of first, giving Comer his third single of the day and putting the tying run in scoring position.  A wild pitch put Comer on third and senior shortstop Chase Jaramillo battled back from an 0-2 count by driving a hard grounder to the right side that glanced off the glove of diving McNeese first baseman Nick Eubanks, scoring Comer with the tying run and giving Jaramillo his first hit of the day.

Junior right handed reliever Donnie White, who came on after Wisecarver delivered a strong 7.2 IP outing, kept the Cowboys off the board in his 2.0 IP of relief to send it to the bottom of the ninth scoreless.  The Colonels thought they had the game won as senior right fielder Scott Moseley mounted a rally with a one-out double down the right field line to put the winning run in scoring position.  After an intentional walk to junior first baseman Beau Faulk, a wild pitch put Moseley at third and Faulk at second.

With a base open, McNeese reliever Jordan LeGros was in the process of delivering an intentional walk to Barba to load the bases, but on ball three McNeese catcher Matt Henry allowed the pitch to glance off his glove and up the first base line.  Moseley dashed toward home and nearly scored the winning run, but was called out on a bang-bang play at the plate with LeGros covering.

With the game heading to extra innings, the Colonels regrouped as White and junior left handed reliever Brad Delatte escaped a one-out, two-men-on jam by combining to strike out McNeese's three and four-hole hitters to slam the door on the McNeese threat and send it to the bottom of the tenth.

The Colonels finally struck against LeGros, the conference saves leader, in the home half of the tenth as Comer delivered a one-out double down the left field line before taking third on a groundout off the bat of Jaramillo.  With two outs, Hill came to the plate looking for the Colonels fourth two-out run of the day and wasted no time.  The Long Beach, Miss. native drove the first pitch he saw from LeGros through the right side past a pair of diving McNeese infielders to score Comer and punch the Colonels' ticket to the league tournament next week.