Final Stats Nicholls-Southern Box Score

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Nicholls baseball team trailed at two different points in the game, but the resilient Colonels never wavered and defeated the Southern Jaguars 14-11 Tuesday night in Baton Rouge.

Nicholls (14-11) has won its seventh-consecutive midweek game and has won nine games on the road for the first time in two years. This is the first sweep over the Jaguars in a season in seven years.

David Zorn had a career day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with five RBI's and three runs scored in the win. The five RBI's ties Philip Lyons for the most this season by a Colonel. Austin Flores finished with three hits for the fourth time in his career, followed by Mike Barba and Michael LeGrange with two each. Eight of the nine Colonel batters in the game registered a hit in the game, while eight scored at least once in the game.

Kory Delange earned the start for Nicholls, but Michael Suk (4-0) earned the victory lasting 3.1 innings giving up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Donnie White earned his first save of the year, preserving the victory with 2.1 innings of perfect ball with four strikeouts to close the door on Southern (12-12).

Barba led off the game with a double down the left field line to get the game going. After Lyons got hit in the arm to reach first, Faulk struck out swinging for the first out. With Bergeron at the plate, Barba got caught stealing third, but it allowed Lyons to take second. Unfortunately for the Colonels, Bergeron lined out to the second baseman to end the inning.

Southern struck first in the bottom half of the inning, using two singles in the inning to drive in the game's first run. A stand-up double by Wilmy Marrerro made the score 1-0 Jags.

LeGrange led off the second inning with a single to left center to get another Colonel runner on base. After stealing second, he was able to advance to third on a wild pitch, but Nicholls couldn't capitalize on the opportunity and would end the inning with no runs.

Southern scored two more runs in the bottom of the third, using two hits to take a 3-0 lead after three.

The Colonels got two runners on in the fourth, and with runners at the corners with Richard at third and Dufrene at first, Zorn singled up the middle to drive in Richard making the score 3-1. Barba was walked to load the bases in the frame with Lyons at the plate, hit a ground ball to the shortstop but the throw was too low, allowing another run to score and keep the inning going. A wild pitch allowed Zorn to score to tie the game. With Faulk at the plate, he roped a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for a 3-run home run to give Nicholls a 6-3 lead. Bergeron grounded out to end the inning.

Southern retaliated in the bottom half of the inning using five hits to score seven runs, as Southern regained the lead and went up 10-6 after four complete innings.

Flores singled up the middle with one out in the fifth, and Richard was walked right after. Both advanced on a wild pitch to put two back into scoring position for Nicholls. After an infield fly for out number two, Zorn stepped up again and laced a single to right field that went off of the foot of the defender allowing Flores and Richard to score making the score 10-8 Southern. Zorn got caught trying to steal third for the final out of the inning.

LeGrange led off the seventh with another double down the left field line to begin another Nicholls rally. Flores then singled to left center to drive in LeGrange pulling the Colonels within one. With Richard at the plate, the Colonel designated hitter flew out to center field, but a balk was called before allowing Flores to advance to second and Richard to continue his at bat. Richard was hit by a pitch on the next pitch taking second. Dufrene put down a sacrifice bunt to advance both to scoring position, and Zorn capitalized on the chance and drilled a double to right field to put Nicholls back up 11-10. Barba continued the inning with a hit to drive in Zorn putting up Nicholls 12-10 before Southern stopped the bleeding and got the final two outs to end the inning.

The Jags scored a run in the seventh, but some bad base running by the Jaguars hampered any more runs from crossing the plate and kept the Colonels up 12-11.

Dufrene laced a double to center field to start the Nicholls ninth. A sacrifice bunt by Zorn resulted in a bad throw by the Southern third baseman allowing Dufrene to score making the score 13-11 Nicholls. The Colonels would get another hit from Lyons to drive in Zorn making the score 14-11 Nicholls before Southern finally settled down and got the final outs of the inning.

The Colonels will return to Ray E. Didier Field on Friday, hosting a weekend conference series against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. First pitch Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.