Final Stats HOUSTON, Texas – The Nicholls State University baseball team scored in all but four innings, exploding for seven runs in the top of the ninth to defeat the Houston Baptist Huskies 15-5 to claim the series 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Husky Field in Houston.

The Colonels battered Husky pitching all day as the team belted out 15 runs on 16 hits, as five different Nicholls players finished the game with multiple hits. Senior Ray Eureste had a career day at the plate for the club, going 4-for-5 with six RBI and two runs scored, getting the first double and triple of his career on Sunday with seven total bases. In all, eight different Colonels garnered a hit in the contest, with Philip Lyons' three, and Matt Richard, Cody Dufrene and Zachary LeBeouf's two each.

Starting pitcher Kory Delange went five solid innings to earn the victory, allowing three runs, one earned, with four strikeouts and just two hits. Justin Sinibaldi, Marc Picciola, Zach Thiac and Jordan McCoy each got one inning of work as the quartet combined to allow just two runs on five hits with three strikeouts.

HBU's Brandon Hammerly (0-1) pitched five innings for the Huskies, and although he did have seven strikeouts on the afternoon, gave up five runs on seven hits before exiting the game with his team trailing 5-3. It never got any better for the home side as his replacement in Curtis Jones gave up three runs in his first inning, allowing five of the seven total runs for the Colonels in the ninth before being replaced by Matthew McCullough who gave up two more before getting the final two outs of the inning.

Although Houston Baptist scored a run in each of the first three innings, the Huskies were held scoreless for the middle third of the game allowing the Colonels to go on top for good after scoring one run in the fourth to tie the game, two in the fifth to go up 5-3 and three in the sixth to take a comfortable 8-3 lead with three innings left to play.

Eureste struck in multiple ways on Sunday, with a two-run double to score Cody Dufrene and Tyler Duplantis to put Nicholls up 2-1 in the second inning. A single in the fourth drove in Dufrene for the second time to tie the game at three, while he was driven in as a part of a two-RBI triple by Richard in the fifth after reaching base with a bunt single. He saved his biggest hit for last as the Houston native blasted a bases clearing triple to right-center and scored for the final time on a Richard sacrifice fly.

Just as they did on Saturday, Nicholls took advantage of its opportunities when they had runners on, getting four stolen bases on six attempts, leaving just seven runners on base to HBU's ten. Nicholls also had six extra base hits, including LeBeouf's monster solo shot in the top of the fifth out in left-center.

The Colonels will be back in action on Wednesday night for the team's home opener against the Southern University Jaguars at 6:30 p.m. at Ray E. Didier Field in Thibodaux.