THIBODAUX, La. – Looking like a team that's starting to come together at the right time, the Nicholls State University baseball team makes the trek to Tulsa, Okla., for a three game Southland Conference weekend series beginning Friday night against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.

Currently on its longest winning streak of the season, which improved to five games after a midweek win over the University of New Orleans, the Colonels take their 22-20 overall record to J.L. Johnson Stadium in Oklahoma in the first-ever meeting between the two teams on the diamond. All three games of the series will be aired on KTIB 640 AM in Thibodaux, and online at ThibodauxOnline.com. Live stats will be provided by ORU, with links available at GeauxColonels.com

Just two weeks ago, Nicholls was desperate for some good fortune after struggling out of the gate to open Southland play. Now, the Colonels seem to be playing their best ball of the year and possibly getting hot at the right time to make a serious run at the end-of-the-year conference tournament in Sugarland, Texas next month.

The team earned its fifth-straight win, as well as its fifth consecutive midweek win, with a 16-5 romp over the UNO Privateers on Tuesday night scoring a season-high 16 runs on 13 hits to move to 17-10 overall in non-conference play. With three more wins the team will earn at least 25 wins in three consecutive seasons for the first time since B.D. Parker's first three seasons in the early 2000's. The Colonels have won seven of their last ten, including that sweep of McNeese State last weekend to improve to 5-10 in league play.

In the last five games the Colonels are hitting .328 as a team, bruising its opponents at the plate to the tune of 57 hits and 39 runs to just 37 and 13 for the opposition. The 13 hits Tuesday night were the fourth consecutive game with double-digits in a contest, as the club has earned five home runs in the last seven games with a slugging percentage of .454.

The pitching for the team has also been solid, as the staff used against the Privateers struck out 14 batters on the night, the 11th time this season Nicholls has racked up double figure strikeouts in a game. Nicholls was looking to pitch its second consecutive shutout but UNO got five runs in the final inning.

Against New Orleans, Brandon Jackson became the latest Colonel to beat up opposing team's pitching staff going 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored, as four players earned multiple hits in the contest and one player getting his first hit as a Colonel in Justin Sinibaldi. Among the boatload of runs driven in, Cody Dufrene had his first three RBI game and leads the team with 33 on the season.

Leading the team at the plate, as well as sitting among the league leaders, are Matt Richard and Keith Cormier with identical .333 batting averages. Cormier, this week's LSWA and SLC Hitter of the Week, continues his tear with a .476 average over his last five with 10 hits and 10 RBI. Richard is right there with a .429 mark, but over his last ten with five stolen bases. Richard, currently tied for first in the league in swiped bases has stolen eight in league play which is a league-wide high and has not been caught stealing since March.

Although he didn't get his typical Sunday start, Taylor Byrd displayed the type of stuff that has Nicholls in the top third in pitching in the Southland after lasting six complete innings of shutout ball with three hits, two walks and nine strikeouts to improve to 5-3 on the season against New Orleans. Byrd has one of the best opposing batting averages in the league, as he and Kory Delange have two of the top ten ERA's in the Southland both fewer than 3.00.

Delange is tied for second in wins, while tied for fourth in complete games with two on the year. Friday night starter Mike Suk is in the top ten in innings pitched among Southland pitchers, averaging nearly seven innings pitched per outing, as his 59 total strikeouts is tied for sixth. Go-to reliever Marc Picciola has not given up a run in his last two outings, while Grant Borne continues to be solid in both starts and relief as he had two strikeouts against the Privateers in an inning of work.

After winning over a dozen league championships in the Mid-Continent/Summit League, Oral Roberts brought a consistent winning tradition to the Southland after joining over the summer. At 8-7 in conference play so far, the Golden Eagles are tied for sixth and two games back of Stephen F. Austin for first place.

ORU is last in the league in hitting with a .237 team average, but counters that with the fourth best pitching staff that holds a 3.88 ERA. Nate Goro leads the team with a .286 average at the plate with 42 hits, seven doubles, a triple and home run. Friday's probable starter in Alex Gonzales has a 2.15 earned run average which is third in the conference.

First pitch for the series is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday night, with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and 1 p.m. start for the finale on Sunday.