THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University baseball team heads out west for a four-game set against the San Jose State Spartans beginning Friday night at 8 p.m. at Municipal Stadium in California.

The Colonels will play in the opener on Friday before a doubleheader on Saturday and finale on Sunday. Nicholls will start Mike Suk in game one, followed by Kory Delange, Grant Borne and Taylor Byrd to close out the weekend. The Spartans will use pitchers Johnny Melero, David Russo, Jason Kafka and D.J. Slaton.

Nicholls is coming off of a tough 9-3 loss at the hands of LSU on Wednesday, as the Colonels held a brief 3-2 lead midway through the game before the bottom fell out and the Tigers scored six unanswered runs after tying the game in the final two innings to earn the win.

Nicholls has now dropped its last two even though it won the series against Sacred Heart over the weekend for the team's third weekend series win of the season. Over the last ten games the Colonels are just 3-7, hoping for some positive momentum heading into conference play beginning next weekend against Stephen F. Austin.

Senior outfielder Matt Richard continues to have a breakout season, as he is currently leading the team in average (.324) and hits (24), as he produced his third multi-RBI game of the season against LSU, driving in two runs on the night. Over the last ten games Richard has 14 hits, three for doubles, and has driven in eight runs with a .326 average.

Although his nine-game hitting streak came to an end on Wednesday, Mike Barba is second on the club in hitting and is two behind Richard in hits with 12 over his last ten, tying with seven hits in the last five games.

The Colonels pitching staff continues to work through some early season challenges, entering the weekend with a 3.88 earned run average, with that number hovering closer to 5.00 over the last two weeks. Kelby Langston suffered his third loss of the season after giving up the game-tying run in the seventh, but it only got worse as Chris Miller and Jordan McCoy combined to give up the final five runs on three hits, with Nicholls committing five errors on the night after turning a triple play in the first inning. Brandon Jackson earned his first start and pitched five innings giving up three runs, as Saturday starter Borne was the only pitcher to hold LSU scoreless in his one inning of work.

This will be the first-ever meeting against Nicholls and San Jose State, as the Spartans are 4-12 and have only won two games at home this season. SJSU's Tim Quiery and Matt Carroll lead the everyday starters with a .375 average at the plate, as San Jose State is hitting .269 as a team with 22 doubles and four triples.

Russo is the only pitcher with two wins on the season, sporting a 4.64 ERA among a staff with a combined average of 5.83. Although the ERA might be a little high, the Spartans are not beating themselves as they have only committed nine errors on the season with a .985 fielding percentage as a squad.

Links for live stats and audio for the weekend can be found on the front page of GeauxColonels.com.