Final Stats 1 | Final Stats 2 THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University baseball team plated three runs in the seventh to snag a 5-3 victory over Houston Baptist in game one of Saturday's doubleheader at Ray E. Didier Field, but the Huskies would outlast the Colonels in a four-hour, 15-inning marathon in the night cap for a 7-5 win to avoid the series sweep.

In game one, Nicholls (10-10, 2-1) found itself down 3-2 after six-and-half innings, but back-to-back doubles by Marc Frazier and Charles Morton to lead off the seventh tied the game. Justin Smith singled to give the Colonels the lead before Darius Knight drew a bases loaded walk for a 5-3 advantage.

Stuart Holmes gave up only one walk to Houston Baptist (9-7, 1-2) in the final two innings to notch his first save of the season.

Grant Borne (3-1) picked up the win, allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings of work. After striking out a combined 20 batters in his last two outings, Borne fanned six and walked one.

The Colonels jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Leo Vargas tripled in the Colonels' second at-bat, and came in to score on a Tyler Duplantis groundout. HBU tied the game up in the third, but Nicholls took the right back in the bottom half when Knight came into score on a wild pitch.

In Borne's final inning, HBU used two hits to take a 3-2 lead. But the Colonel rally in the seventh put the sophomore in line for the win, which Holmes protected allowing no hits while striking out two.

In the night cap, the teams combined for 34 hits and 14 pitchers in the four-hour, 18-minute contest, and HBU recorded three of its 22 hits in the 15th for a 7-5 victory.

The Huskies led 5-2 after four innings, but the Colonels would rally with two runs in the ninth to tie the game. Morton, who legged out a RBI triple in the sixth, started the comeback with a one-out single. Smith then found a seam through the right side for a base knock, scoring Justin Holt to make the score 5-4 HBU. With two on and two out, the Huskies looked to have ended the game on a grounder to first by Philip Lyons, but HBU pitcher Josh Martinez missed the bag on the putout. David Zorn then made a heads up base-running play, coming into score to tie the game at 5-all.

Neither team would score again until the HBU 15th. Nathan Schwertner doubled home a run for the lead before C.J. Jarvis sprayed a single to right to push the advantage to 7-5.

In Colonels' final at-bat, Holt and Zorn led off the frame with walks. After a sac-bunt by Christian Correa, Seth Stevens struck out on three pitches, and Lyons grounded out to short to end the game.

Jason McDonald (0-2) took the loss, pitching four innings with two runs on five hits. The bullpen combined for 12 innings, allowing only one run and struck out six.

Nicholls returns to the diamond with an away-home series with Louisiana-Lafayette next week. The Colonels take on the Ragin' Cajuns Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Lafayette, and will host ULL Wednesday, also at 6 p.m.