Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – After surrendering a run in the first, sophomore left-hander Grant Borne gave the Nicholls State University baseball team its second straight quality start on the mound with a career-high 11 strikeouts and the Colonel offense plated three runs in the sixth and eighth innings as Nicholls took the series finale against BYU, 6-1, Saturday night at Ray E. Didier Field, earning a split in the four-game series against the Cougars.

Nicholls had eight hits in the win, and was able to capitalize on six errors by BYU (7-10). Leadoff hitter Philip Lyons went 3-for-5, and Keith Cormier and Darius Knight continued to swing a hot bat, each finishing with two hits.

Borne (2-1) gave up a RBI double in the first, and only three more hits in the rest of his outing. Borne seemed to be getting stronger as the game went on, ending his night in the seventh with his ninth, tenth, and 11th strikeouts of the contest.

BYU starter Desmond Poulson (3-1) also had a solid night on the bump, keeping Nicholls off the board until the sixth. However, back-to-back errors by Poulson put himself in a bind early in the inning.

The Colonels played small ball, getting infield singles by Knight and Lyons. Leo Vargas then laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Poulson could not field it cleanly to record the first out of the inning. Tyler Duplantis then had a swinging bunt, and reached on another error by the BYU pitcher which allowed Knight to score.

With the bases loaded, Cormier sent a rocket over the Cougar second baseman, driving home Lyons and Vargas for a 3-1 lead.

Still leading 3-1 in the eighth, the Colonels extended their lead with three runs on two hits and three BYU errors. Cormier led off with a single, and came around to score on a squeeze bunt by Christian Correa. With runners on second and third, Charles Morton scored on a wild pitch, and on an errant throw by the catcher to home, Zorn raced in to give Nicholls a 6-1 lead.

In the ninth, Marc Picciola gave up a one-out single to Jarret Jarvis before Duplantis caught a liner at third and doubled Jarvis up to end the game.

Nicholls will play a Tuesday night game at 6:30 p.m. with LSU in Baton Rouge before opening conference play at home against Houston Baptist. The HBU series will start Friday, March 14, with first pitch at The Did scheduled for 6 p.m.