THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University baseball team returns to the diamond this weekend, traveling to take on the Sam Houston State Bearkats for the three-game series in Huntsville.

KTIB 640 AM in Thibodaux will broadcast all three games of the series, with ThibodauxOnline.com streaming the audio through the internet. GoBearkats.com, the official site of Sam Houston State, will provide live stats and live video of the weekend's action.

The Colonels got a full week to recuperate after making the ten-plus hour trek north to Oral Roberts last weekend, with no midweek games scheduled and the final one set for next Tuesday at Tulane. Nicholls is in the final stretch of its season-long eight-game road swing, heading to Texas this weekend before returning home next weekend in the home finale against Northwestern State.

In the first-ever meetings between the Colonels and Golden Eagles, the Colonels came close to earning two of the games in the series, but in the end dropped the conference clash 2-1 after winning the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday. The team's record stands at 23-22 overall and 6-12 in Southland Conference play, as the Colonels are looking to improve its road record of 10-12 this weekend. 

With only three conference weekends remaining, Nicholls is one game back of McNeese State for the eighth place spot in the race to the conference tournament the 22-25 at Constellation Field in Sugarland. Owning the tiebreaker over the Cowboys by virtue of their sweep a few weeks ago, the schedule will provide a bit of a challenge with Sam this weekend and ending the year at Lamar with the tenth place Demons next weekend.

The hot bats at the core of the Nicholls lineup will need to continue heading into the showdown with the Bearkats, as Matt Richard, Tyler Duplantis, Brandon Jackson and Keith Cormier are all batting above .300 with a few weeks left to go. In league play only, Richard and Duplantis are batting over .350 with Richard having a .363 average and Duplantis with a .353 mark. Duplantis is also on the longest active hitting streak at seven games.

Jackson, who will continue to be the Sunday starter and bat in the order, averaged .438 at the plate last week with seven hits, two for doubles and four RBI. On the mound, the junior pitched in front of family and friends last weekend in Tulsa and did not disappoint, giving up just one run with four strikeouts to just two walks.

One area plaguing the team, and subsequently the pitching staff, as been the bevy of errors the team has accumulated over the last handful of games. In the last five games the Colonels have produced 11 errors and 20 in the last ten. Of the eight runs the Golden Eagles scored in the finale, only three were earned due to two errors in that seven-run eighth.

For most of the weekend, the tables were reversed as Nicholls got better numbers from its relievers than the starters, especially from freshman Grant Borne. Borne appeared in three of the four Nicholls games last week, including pitching in both games of the doubleheader that Saturday. The Baton Rouge, native earned the win in game two, and did not give up a run while he was on the mound with an opposing batting average of .167. Jordan McCoy earned his eighth save and is still second in the Southland in that category.

Sam Houston State is coming off of a 2-1 win over former Southland rival UTSA, 2-1, Tuesday night and will enter the weekend with a 28-17 overall record and 12-6 league mark. The Bearkats are currently tied for the league lead with Lamar and holds a 15-9 record at Don Sanders Stadium.

As a team, Sam Houston State is fourth in the Southland in batting average with a .285 mark led by Kevin Miller's .365 average. Miller leads Sam with 61 hits, while Hayden Simerly has driven in 35 RBI and has eight home runs to his credit. The Bearkats currently have seven players with at least 20 RBI on the season, and three with at least 30.

On the mound, SHSU has an earned run average of 4.10 which is fifth in the conference, but in league play the Bearkats are holding opponents to 3.87 average and a .228 mark at the plate. Their rotation of Caleb Smith, Andrew Godail and Cody Dickson have combined for nine wins in conference, although each sport an ERA above 3.00 with Dickson's over 6.00.

First pitch for the start of the series is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Sanders Stadium.