Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – Senior catcher Cody Dufrene hit a grand slam to power a five-run eighth for the Nicholls State University baseball team, but the South Alabama Jaguars struck early and often to defeat the Colonels 11-7 Tuesday night at Ray E. Didier Field in Thibodaux.

With the loss the Colonels fall to 7-6 on the season and 4-2 in Thibodaux, while South Alabama snapped a three-game losing skid to Nicholls and earning a win on the Bayou for the first time since 2009.

Down by ten, the Colonel offense finally came alive as Nichols would get six runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but after the Jaguars put up a four-run first, South Alabama scored runs in the second and third and exploded for five in the sixth to roll to the victory, tagging Nicholls pitchers for 12 runs in the contest.

On the very first play of the game a Leo Vargas error put a runner on second base and Colonels starter Zach Thiac (1-1) never recovered as USA got all four runs on three hits to take a the 4-0 lead, with Thiac lasting just three innings in the loss, giving up six runs, five earned, with a walk and two strikeouts. His replacement in Justin Sinibaldi had a strong start but would earn four of the five runs in the sixth along with one going to Chris Miller who combined to give up five hits while striking out three with four walks.

Nicholls finished with one less hit than South Alabama, but stranded eight runners on base on the night to USA's seven. Dufrene led the Colonels at the plate going 3-for-4 driving in four and scoring once, followed by Matt Richard and David Zorn's two each. Zorn scored twice and drove in a run, while Richard had the first RBI for Nicholls in the game driving in the left fielder in the third to make the score 4-1. However, South Alabama pitching combined to strike out 13 Nicholls players at the plate with Jaguar starter Matt Bell (2-0) fanning nine.

With South Alabama switching to its fourth pitcher of the night, a walk to Philip Lyons began the eighth with Adam Seal getting his only hit of the night advancing Lyons to third and putting runners at the corners. After a walk to Zachary LeBeouf loaded the bases, the Jaguars pulled J.A. Harville in favor of Anthony Izzio, coming in to strike out Tyler Duplantis but a Zorn single right after scoring Lyons to make the score 11-2. It got worse for Izzio as Dufrene took a 2-0 pitch in the next at bat over the left field fence to make it an 11-6 game with one inning left.

After switching to its sixth pitcher of the night, the Colonels got a two-out rally going in the ninth as Cody Tillotson came on to pinch hit and laced a double down the right field line. LeBeouf singled through the right side of the infield on the next play scoring Chase Garrett who came in to run for Tillotson. But with Cole Wilson coming on to hit for Duplantis who stuck out three times on the night, Wilson went down swinging to end the game with USA holding on for the win.

South Alabama had five players end the game with two hits, getting six extra base hits on the night including four doubles a triple and a solo home run from Hayden Jones. Jordan Patterson drove in four RBI for the Jaguars, going 2-for-4 also scoring twice. USA stranded eight runners in the game, and got caught in two Nicholls double plays, but had no errors while the Colonels had three.

Nicholls will be back in action tomorrow, taking on the Southern Jaguars at 6 p.m. at Pete Goldsby Field in Baton Rouge.