Final Stats BEAUMONT, Texas – After starting the game with another lead, the Nicholls State University baseball team fell behind after giving up four runs in the first two innings and was outhit 14-6 on the day to end the season with a 6-5 loss to Lamar Saturday afternoon at Vincent-Beck Stadium in Beaumont.

With the loss the Colonels end the season with a record of 26-29 and a Southland Conference record of 9-18 to finish ninth overall. Lamar improves to 36-18 and 15-12 in the Southland and will go into next week's tournament as the sixth seed.

After giving up the four runs in the first two innings, the Colonels came back and tied the game in the fourth after holding Lamar scoreless for two consecutive innings. But after getting that fourth run, the Nicholls offense went scoreless for the next three innings while Lamar made its charge to take the lead for good.

Nicholls starter Taylor Byrd lasted just 2.1 innings in his start, but it was Zach Thiac (2-2) who took the loss after giving up the final two Cardinal runs after relieving Byrd going four innings with a strikeout. Lamar used five pitchers on the day, as Travis Moore (2-0) earned the win after pitching 3.1 innings of work allowing one run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts, with J.T. Autrey (1) earning the save in the ninth.

Seth Stevens was the only Nicholls player with multiple hits on the afternoon, going 2-for-5 with a double, as he, Cody Dufrene and Matt Richard all had doubles on the day. Unfortunately, Nicholls stranded eight runners on the day, including the game-tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth.

Nicholls was the first to strike for the second consecutive day, as a three-base error on a throw allowed Richard to reach first. A grounder to short by Leo Vargas scored the outfielder to give Nicholls an early 1-0 advantage, with a strikeout closing the frame.

A reversed call on the very first batter Byrd faced to open the game proved costly as it resulted in a double, as Lamar pounded out four hits and pushed across two runs in the bottom half of the first to take a 2-1 lead, nearly getting more if not for a fantastic double play turned to end the inning. The Cardinals got two more runs in the second on two hits to take a 4-1 lead after two.

After a walk to David Zorn, a double by Richard to the gap in left center scored Zorn to make it 4-2, as a sacrifice bunt by Vargas advanced Richard to third for the first out, with an unassisted grounder by Keith Cormier scoring Richard to make it 4-3. The second double of the inning came from the bat of Stevens who lined a shot to left center as well, but a deep fly to center ended the inning.

Byrd didn't make it through the third after giving up two more singles, with a sacrifice bunt moving the two Lamar runners over to second and third to end his afternoon. Thiac came on and got the first batter to hit a shallow fly to center keeping the runners at bay, with a grounder to short ending the threat.

Already with an out, a walk to Mike Barba put one on in the inning, with the right fielder stealing second on the next play. After stealing third, Barba had to return to second after an umpire call that claimed interference with the catcher did not allow for a possible throw, but in the end it wouldn't matter as Dufrene doubled to left center to tie the game at four. Dufrene then took third on a balk, and after an unassisted grounder to first kept the catcher at bay, Richard was plunked to put runners at the corners prompting a Lamar pitching change. The change resulted in a fly ball to center ending the inning.

Thiac was pitching well until he ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth, as with two outs already in the books, consecutive doubles down the lines scored Lamar's fifth run of the game and gave the Cardinals ten hits for the game to go up 5-4. Thiac was eventually replaced in the seventh after a single and wild pitch for Kelby Langston, who gave up two singles before getting the second out of the inning and was pulled for Jordan McCoy who kept the score at 6-4.

Tyler Duplantis earned his first hit of the day to open the eighth, hitting a single through the left side to reach first. After moving to second on a balk, Philip Lyons grounded out to first advancing the third baseman to third on the play. A single by Barba scored Duplantis to make it 6-5. A fielder's choice forced out Barba at second for the second out of the inning, with a looking strikeout ending the inning.