THIBODAUX, La. – After a strong performance on Tuesday night, the Nicholls Sate University baseball team jumps right back into Southland play on Thursday night, in a split three-game series against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at 6 p.m. in Hammond before returning home to host a game on Friday with the finale back at Alumni Field on Saturday.

All three games of the series will be available to subscribers of Colonels All-Access, with Southeastern providing video for Thursday and Saturday, with audio from KTIB and Thibodaux Online broadcasting each of the games in Hammond as well.

The Colonels will have their work cut out for them this weekend, as SLU enters the series 18-8 on the year and 3-0 in league play after sweeping Northwestern State last weekend on the road. The Lions had a four-game winning streak halted by Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday with a 9-6 loss, as they had a nine-game winning streak over the Cajuns up until that point.

For the first time all season, Friday starter Mike Suk will head into a weekend series with some confidence as he earned the only win in the SFA tilt, while Kory Delange took just his second of the season while Taylor Byrd earned a no-decision in the Sunday finale. SLU will counter with junior righty Sean Kennel, freshman righty Tate Scoioneaux and senior lefty Jordan Hymel. All three have earned at least three wins on the season, while Kennel is sporting a 1.74 ERA and 26-4 strikeout to walk ratio.

Nicholls is hoping to have some of the confidence from its Tuesday night game against New Orleans roll over into the crucial conference tilt, as the Colonels belted 12 hits for the third consecutive game in the 14-4 win. The club is 7-5 when producing double-digit hits on the season, as the 14 runs were one-shy of tying the season high of 15 which came against HBU earlier this year.

With four players hitting above .320, the offensive production has seen a boost recently with the emergence of Tyler Duplantis and Keith Cormier in the lineup. The duo, currently tied for the team lead in average at .329, has combined for 30 hits in the last ten games, with each hitting over .410 during that time frame.

Cormier hit 500 in the opening Southland weekend with six hits, while Duplantis on Tuesday began what became the five-run sixth allowing the Colonels to re-take the lead with a lead-off triple to start the inning. In his last five he's batting .474 and has scored eight times with an on base percentage of .524.

Nicholls will be looking for a better weekend out of the bullpen and it may have started last night as the team used just three pitchers as Grant Borne struck out a season-high nine batters, while Zach Thiac gave up just three hits in earning his second win of the season. Jordan McCoy got out all three batters he faced in the ninth, as the Colonels will have its full allotment of reserves ready for the set.

Southeastern will look to stay at the top of the league standings with ORU who also swept a ranked Central Arkansas team last weekend, as the Lions were picked to finish second in both preseason polls at the start of the year. The Lions rode a second-place finish all the way to the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament title game last season, losing to UTA in the final and barely missing a chance to make the NCAA Regionals with an at-large spot.

Nicholls won the series last year 2-1 over SLU, and has an overall record of 109-79-2 against the Lions all-time.