Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – With a chance at its first weekend sweep of the season, the Nicholls State University baseball team had three players finish with multiple hits on a 12-hit day, while starting pitcher Brandon Jackson went the distance earning a complete game shutout in a 6-0 win in the finale against McNeese State Sunday afternoon at Ray E. Didier Field.

Jackson (2-0) was dominant on the mound retiring the Cowboys (19-18, 6-9 SLC) in four of the nine innings with five strikeouts and just two walks while scattering six hits. Just three runners from McNeese State got into scoring position on the afternoon as the Nicholls (21-20, 5-10 SLC) defense was not done in by two of the combined five errors in the game to keep the visitors off of the board.

The Nicholls offense seemed to get stronger as the weekend went on and pieced together its second consecutive double-digit hit performance with 12 as three players accumulated multiple hits on the day. Matt Richard set the table going 3-for-4 with three runs scored while Keith Cormier put the cap on his best week in a Nicholls uniform going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a home run.

Philip Lyons and Tyler Duplantis had two hits each, with Lyons driving in a run, as Leo Vargas drove in two RBI and scored once in a 1-for-3 afternoon. Zach LeBeouf completed the afternoon going 1-for-2.

McNeese State's Trey McGee (6-4) lasted just 5.1 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on 11 hits with just one strikeout, as reliever Jacob Williams pitched the final 2.2, giving up one run on a hit with two walks and two strikeouts.

The Cowboys had two opportunities to cut the deficit getting runners all the way to third, but could never seem to convert leaving eight runners stranded on base to Nicholls' six. Jackson threw a season-high 127 pitches, with 78 being for strikes.

Richard led off the game with a single to third base to give Nicholls some early signs of life, advancing all the way to third after a failed pickoff attempt and throwing error by the first baseman. It proved to be two costly mistakes as Leo Vargas drove in Richard on a sacrifice fly to put Nicholls up 1-0 for the only action of the inning.

Nicholls nearly gave the lead away in the top of the third, as a single and error on a routine grounder put runners at the corners with just one out. Fortunately, Jackson and the Colonels worked out of the jam with consecutive pop ups to end the inning.

With one out, Richard kicked off three-straight hits for the team in the bottom of the third with a double to left field. After advancing to third on a balk, Vargas singled to left to score Richard to put the Colonels up 2-0. A single through the left side by Lyons pushed Vargas to third to put two on the corners. After Lyons stole second, Jackson hit into the fielder's choice groundout to score Vargas and advance Lyons to third with a 3-0 Colonel lead. Cormier drilled a shot to right scoring Lyons for the third run of the inning and the 4-0 Nicholls lead. Cormier stole second and the resulting errant throw by the catcher allowed him to take third, but would get stranded after a fly ball out ended the inning.

Richard tallied his third hit of the game in the bottom half of the fifth, stealing second right after to get into scoring position. After a deep fly out and advancing to third, Lyons singled to right scoring Richard to put the Colonels up five midway through the contest. Back-to-back singles by the Cormier and Duplantis in the bottom of the sixth chased McGee from the game, as Zach LeBeouf put down a sacrifice bunt to advance the two into scoring position for the first out. A grounder kept the runners at bay for the second out, with a fly out to end the inning.

Cormier put the exclamation point on the game and his extraordinary week, hitting a solo home run to left, his third of the week, to put Nicholls up 6-0 in the bottom of the eighth.

Nicholls will hit the road beginning Tuesday night, taking on UNO at Wesley Barrow Stadium in New Orleans.