Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – For the second time in as many days, the Nicholls State University baseball team took an early lead over Towson, but just as it happened Friday the Tigers slowly began to creep back and make the game close pulling within one run of the Colonels before Nicholls got an insurance run in the eighth to fend off the Tigers Saturday 5-3 in Thibodaux.

With the win the Colonels move to 4-2 on the season and come within a game of winning their second series of the year, while the Tigers fall for the first time this season after coming within a win of tying the program's best start.

After going four innings in a win last week, Nicholls starter Taylor Byrd nearly went seven full innings, lasting 6.2 while giving up three runs on five hits with ten strikeouts. The ten strikeouts are the most for a Nicholls starting pitcher since April 3 of last season when Mike Suk struck out ten against Jackson State.

Byrd would work out of many jams on the evening, with one of the biggest coming in the second inning as with runners on the corners, the junior lefty would get the lead runner on a 1-3-2 pick off to give Towson two outs before striking out the next batter to end the inning. He gave up a single run in the third and seventh innings, exiting the game with runners on first and second holding on to a one-run lead before Jacob Rodrigue came in and got the final out to escape the inning.

Nicholls had back-to-back two run innings in the second and third coming from a two-RBI double by Cody Dufrene to put the Colonels up 2-0, then getting a two-run bomb by Philip Lyons after a Mike Barba double to put the Colonels up 4-1 just three innings in. It was the first home run for Lyons on the season, as he finished the game going 3-for-4 with three RBI driving in Barba again in the eighth after Barba's triple to open the inning to put the game away.

Nicholls also got three hits from Tyler Duplantis, who also went 3-for-4 with a run scored followed by Barba who had both a double and triple in the contest. The Colonels had seven extra base hits on the night, with Duplantis and David Zorn also producing two-base hits on the evening.

Rodrigue made it through three of the four batters in the eighth after getting the Tigers to fly out before handing out a walk with the runner advancing to second on a wild pitch. The sophomore got his only strikeout of his inning appearance on the next batter as Kelby Langston came on to get the final out to head to the bottom half of the inning where the Colonels got the final run of the game to go up 5-3. Jordan McCoy (1) wouldn't need much time to close the door as he retired all three batters in the game to earn his first save of the season and preserving the Nicholls win.

Although the Colonels had five runs, the team pounded out 12 hits during the game to Towson's five, as the Tigers left eight men on base during the course of the game. Paul Beers took the loss for the Tigers after giving up four runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

First pitch for Sunday's finale is set for Noon at Ray E. Didier Field in Thibodaux.