2013 Nicholls State University Baseball Schedule

THIBODAUX, La. – Third-year head coach Seth Thibodeaux and the Nicholls State University baseball team released its challenging 2013 slate today, with 24 home games at Ray E. Didier Field while renewing rivalries against LSU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Southern and Tulane.

The Colonels are looking to continue its strong run as of late, as last year the team won more than 25 games for the third consecutive season, while keeping alive its streak of winning records at home in Ray E. Didier Field.

“This will be one of the most challenging schedules we've put together since I've been here, and every game on the schedule is to get us prepared for another strong year in the Southland,” Thibodeaux said. “The teams we have next year all come from strong conferences and backgrounds, as this team will have to be prepared every night to fight for a win.”

The first pitch of the season will come in Houston, Texas on Feb. 15, as the Colonels travel to face a team it will become familiar with in the coming years in the Houston Baptist Huskies. HBU will join the Southland in all sports next season, after establishing a winning tradition in the Great West Conference. The three-game series against the Huskies was originally scheduled to be played at Constellation Field, the site of the 2013 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament, but was moved to campus due to scheduling conflicts.

HBU will be one of five unfamiliar opponents to the Colonels next season, as the team will take on some new faces during the year. Nicholls will open its first weekend home series against Towson, a member of the Colonial Athletic Conference beginning Feb. 22. The Colonels will also host Sacred Heart University, the two-time defending Northeast Conference champions in a three-game series beginning March 8.

“There's a lot of great baseball being played on the east coast, so bringing in Towson and Sacred Heart was big,” Thibodeaux said. “Last year Stony Brook opened its season in our tournament and obviously they went on to great things and made a run to the College World Series. Those are the kind of teams I want us to play.”

Away from Thibodaux the Colonels will take on the Ivy League's Brown Bears at a round robin event hosted by LSU March 2-3. One of the marquee matchups will be a four-game series in sunny California March 15-17 against San Jose State, featuring a doubleheader on Saturday at Municipal Stadium.

Other non-conference games will have a decidedly Louisiana flare to it, with two games against LSU, ULL, UNO and Southern, and three against Tulane scattered throughout the season. The Colonels will also continue its burgeoning rivalry with South Alabama with an in season home-and-home series with one game in March and the other in April.
The 27-game Southland schedule begins in earnest on March 22, as Nicholls will host Stephen F. Austin in a weekend series in Thibodaux. The Lumberjacks knocked the Colonels out of the race for the Southland tournament in the final game of the season in 2012. Thibodaux will see a total of four Southland Conference series matchups next season, as along with SFA, will be against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, McNeese State and Northwestern State to close the home schedule.

Nicholls will also host Southeastern for one game in their series, as the Lions will host the other two as SLU looks to build on its berth in the conference tournament title game last season.

Nicholls will have its longest road trip of the season late in the year, as the Colonels will travel to face league newcomer Oral Roberts April 26-28, and Sam Houston State May 3-5 the very next week. The eight-game swing will be bookended with games at UNO and Tulane. The Central Arkansas trip will come after the series with the Islanders, as the season will come to a close in Beaumont against the Lamar Cardinals.

The 2013 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament will be held at Constellation Park, home of the Sugarland Skeeters, May 22-25 in Sugarland, Texas.

Season tickets and flex package options for the 2013 season will be announced in the coming weeks.