Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – BYU starter Kolton Mahoney pitched a no-hitter and struck out 11 Colonels as the Nicholls State University baseball team dropped the opening game of its four-game series against the Cougars, 5-0, on Thursday night at Ray E. Didier Field.

Nicholls (6-7) and BYU (6-8) will continue the series on Friday with a doubleheader scheduled for 3 p.m. Game 1 will be broadcast on KTIB 640 AM, with the night cap set to air on KNSU 91.5 FM.

Only two Colonels reached base in the loss as Justin Smith and Leo Vargas drew walks in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively. Vargas stole second to threaten the shutout, but Mahoney ended the inning with a strikeout. Mahoney (2-2) threw 109 pitches in the no-hitter, which was the seventh in program history.

BYU finished with 11 hits and took the lead in the third on a RBI single up the middle by Kelton Caldwell. In the sixth, the Cougars had three hits against Colonel starter Brandon Jackson (1-1) to go up 4-0.  Caldwell drove in another run in the seventh, joining Trace Hansen with two RBIs.

With two outs in the eighth, Christian Correa tried to sneak a ball through the right side, but Hansen fielded it cleanly and tossed a strike to first to end the inning.

Down to their final three outs, Colonel pinch hitter Seth Stevens struck out to lead off the inning, Philip Lyons grounded out to short and the final out came on a Vargas strikeout.

Jackson took the loss, allowing five runs with three earned on 10 hits. Jackson struck out five in six innings for work. Stuart Holmes pitched the final three innings, giving up one hit while fanning four.