THIBODAUX, La. – After months of training and workouts, the Nicholls State University baseball team opens its season on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., taking on the Houston Baptist Huskies at Husky Field in Texas.

Each of the three games in the series will begin at 2 p.m. this weekend, with live stats available for Saturday and Sunday afternoon. This is only the second ever meeting between the two clubs, and first since the 2010 season, as the Huskies will be joining the Southland in all sports beginning in July. HBU finished last year with a 28-33 overall record, falling in the Great West Tournament Championship game and is picked to finish second this year by the coaches.

Nicholls is led into its 54th season of baseball on Friday by third-year head baseball coach Seth Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux, along with associate head coach Chris Prothro, pitching coach Rudy Darrow, volunteer assistant Brett Stewart and director of baseball operations Gee Cassard make up this year's coaching staff with over 20 combined years of service in the Colonels program among them.

“We've been looking forward to this day since May 19, 2012 when we lost to Stephen F. Austin to end the season,” Thibodeaux said. “We made sure to let the guys know in preseason workouts leading up till now that we have some thing to prove this season and it begins in earnest on Friday.”

With a 26-28 overall record last season, Thibodeaux tied Nicholls Hall of Fame coach Mike Knight for most wins in his first two years at the helm of the Colonels with 54. Thibodeaux was also the first coach since B.D. Parker to post back-to-back seasons with 25 or more wins in his first two years in Thibodaux.

However, the 2012 season was the first since 2007 where the Colonels didn't increase its win total from the previous season, and will look to make it back to the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament after missing it last year. In this instance, Nicholls hopes to start and end its season in Houston, as the conference year-end tournament will be held at Constellation Field May 22-25 in the suburb of Sugarland.

The 2013 version of the Colonels will look very different than their 2012 counterparts, as Nicholls returns just five lettermen and four starters from last year's team. But the players returning will help enhance the restocked defense and pitching staff to hopefully put together another strong season.

Leading the infield will be preseason first team all-conference selection Philip Lyons, who is the squad's top hitter at the plate after finishing the year with a .335 average in 2012. Lyons, a junior, started every game last season for the Colonels and posted a .963 fielding percentage at the second base position.

The only other player joining him with extensive playing time will be the anchor behind the plate in senior Cody Dufrene. Dufrene played in 47 games and made 37 starts toward the end of the season, the most for him in his career, catching for almost all of the pitchers that threw for the team last year.

One of the more stable core of players will come in the outfield as the team will return Mike Barba, Matt Richard and David Zorn as each saw extensive playing time on the year. Richard led the team in steals with 26, leaving him tied for second in the league and in the top 120 players ranked nationally in the category, a stat Barba found himself in as well at different points in the season as he finished with 15. Zorn made the most of his opportunities during the season and turned his in his redshirt freshman season with a .345 batting average in a reserve role, with 27 hits and 14 RBI.

The pitching staff likely getting the start this weekend will have big shoes to fill in the weekend rotation, with Mike Suk, Taylor Byrd and Kory Delange looking to get the team started on a positive note.

Suk led the team in wins and winning percentage with a 7-1 record on the year, with 54 strikeouts to just 23 walks, getting some weekend starts under his belt later in the year. Byrd was named one of the top newcomers in the Southland Conference by Baseball America, and looks to bring the stuff that brought the junior lefty 10 wins during his time at Pearl River Community College. Delange is the final piece to the weekend puzzle as the senior from Tallahassee, Fla., compiled a 3-0 record with 37 strikeouts in 42.1 innings pitched last season.

The expected closer will be senior Jordan McCoy. McCoy had the most saves of any Colonel in the last ten seasons with seven in 2012, and expects to have more chances in 2013.

Among some of the returning players and newcomers expected to take a major role this season are Tyler Duplantis, Ray Eureste, Brandon Jackson, Cody Tillotson and Alex Tucker to name a few. Many players could very well see multiple opportunities at a variety of positions open up during the season, rotating between infield, outfield and bullpen chances.

After the series, the Colonels return to Thibodaux for their home opener against Southern University on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.