Final Stats Nicholls-ULM Box Score

MONROE, La. – Scoring seven runs in the fourth inning to take a 9-0 lead looked to be enough for the Colonels to cruise to a dominating victory after yesterday's three-hit outing. But the Warhawks made a game of it late scoring five runs to pull within four, but the Colonels held off the home team and defeated ULM 10-6 Saturday night.

Pat Shreve (1-2) threw a career and season high 10 strikeouts in the win, going 5.2 innings giving up three runs on eight hits, walking three. Cale Wine got the loss for ULM giving up five runs, three earned, on three hits in just three innings.

One day after providing the only offense for the Colonels (5-6), Phil Lyons and Jeremy Hill battered ULM (7-4) pitchers, as Lyons finished the night with a career-high four hits with three RBI's, followed by Hill who blasted the second home run of his career, a three-run jack, while scoring once. Lyons now extends his hitting streak to a team season-high six games.

The Colonels pounded out 14 hits on the game, to go along with Hill and Lyons, including Leo Vargas' 3-for-4 night, Blake Bergeron and Michael LeGrange's 2-for-5 night and Matt Richard and Mike Barba's one hit each. ULM also finished the game with 14 hits, but stranded 14 batters on the night.

Just like yesterday, Lyons got the first hit for the Colonels in the game getting a single in the first inning. After he stole second, Bergeron ripped a single through the right side to score Lyons putting the Colonels up 1-0. Nicholls struck again in the third inning after Barba got on base with a walk, before stealing second and taking third on a passed ball. Lyons grounded out to shortstop to bring in Barba putting Nicholls up 2-0.

An eruption of offense for the Colonels in the fourth inning began with LeGrange getting on base after a fielding error. He advanced two bases on a steal and wild pitch, eventually scoring on a walk to Beau Faulk with the ball getting past the catcher with Faulk advancing to second. After a Vargas single then steal put runners in scoring position, Barba, Richard and Lyons hit back-to-back-to-back singles to score three more runs with only one out.

After a double-steal by Lyons and Richard, Hill stepped up to the plate and drilled a shot to right field clearing the fence for a three-run bomb to give the Colonels a 9-0 lead.

ULM used three hits in the bottom of the inning to finally get in the board, but left three runners stranded in the process.

After Lyons' third RBI of the day bringing in Vargas in the fifth gave the Colonels a 10-1 lead, Nicholls got in trouble over the course of the next two innings, giving up five runs on five hits between the sixth and seventh innings making the score 10-6 Nicholls. Nicholls used four pitchers after pulling Shreve toward the end of the sixth inning, with Michael Baxter getting the worst of the lot giving up three runs on three hits in just .2 innings of work.

The Warhawks left seven runners on base over the last four innings of the game, including a bases loaded ninth, but the Colonels minimized the damage and did not allow another ULM run to pull out the victory.

First pitch for the series finale against the Warhawks begins at 1 p.m. Sunday in Monroe.