Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – After a dominating performance by Nicholls starting pitcher Mike Suk, the Nicholls State University baseball team was poised to go to extras after Sacred Heart tied the game in the top of the ninth, but senior outfielder Mike Barba delivered on a bases loaded single off the left field wall with two outs in the bottom half of the inning to lead Nicholls to a 3-2 win over the Pioneers in the series opener Friday night.

With the win the Colonels snap a three-game losing skid while also improving its home record to 5-2 on the year. With the loss Sacred Heart falls to 0-6, still looking for its first win of the season.

Of the six hits on the night for Nicholls, Barba had three of them to finish the game 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored, improving his season average to .340 and extending his hitting streak to seven games and his bases reached streak to 12. Brandon Jackson Keith Cormier and David Zorn had the other three hits as the Colonels still had one less than SHU who finished with seven.

With two outs in hand Jordan McCoy (1-0) was set to earn his fifth save of the season, but consecutive singles and hit batters in the next four plate appearances for Sacred Heart tied the game at two in the opening half of the ninth before the final batter popped up to first base to end the inning. McCoy would end earning the win, but the night belonged to Suk who pitched eight innings allowing one run on five hits with a career-high 13 strikeouts. The senior right-hander completes the trifecta of Nicholls weekenders with at least ten strikeouts in a contest in consecutive weeks, now setting a new season high in the process.

Suk had very little room for error as Nicholls scored both of its runs in the third inning after Barba singled then scored on a Jackson double down the left field line, in between a Philip Lyons walk who eventually scored on an infield ground ball by Cody Dufrene to go up 2-0. Through the first four innings, Suk had already fanned ten Sacred Heart batters and ended the night tossing 118 pitches total.

In the eighth, SHU finally caught a break getting its first run of the game on a single up the middle to pull the Pioneers within one run of Nicholls with just an inning remaining. Pioneers catcher Derick Horn had three hits to lead Sacred Heart at the plate on the night, as he was a part of the hit parade that helped tie the game and almost force extra baseball.

Kody Kerski exited the game in after six complete innings, striking out eight Nicholls batters in the process before Dan Wertz came on and pitched the next two innings giving up nothing with a strikeout. Unfortunately, James Cooksey came on in the final inning and after getting the first out of the inning, walked pinch hitter Cody Tillotson to put a runner on. Cole Wilson was then brought in to pinch run, and the pressure was mounting as a Zorn single to first base put two on.

Another pop fly pushed Nicholls to the brink, but as Matt Richard got plunked to load the bases, Barba wasted little time hitting a line-drive shot off of the left field fence scoring Wilson for the walk-off hit.

Game two of the series is set for a 7 p.m. first pitch Saturday night in Thibodaux.