Final Stats SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Nicholls State University pitching staff picked up right where it left off on Friday, as three hurlers combined for a six-hit shutout win over the University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday afternoon at Sullivan Field, downing the Cardinals by a 6-0 final.
 
The Colonels (21-20, 12-6 SLC) clinched the three-game Southland Conference series with Grant Borne, Brandon Jackson and Marc Picciola teaming up for the second straight whitewashing of the Cardinals (12-24, 5-7 SLC). Nicholls remains in a first-place toe with Southeastern Louisiana and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
Borne lasted seven innings, allowing four hits with four walks, a hit batter and four strikeouts in improving his record to 5-2. Jackson yielded a hit in the eighth with Picciola doing the same in the ninth. UIW stranded 11 runners, including eight in scoring position.
 
Philip Lyons led the Colonels at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two runs. Leo Vargas contributed a hit, two runs batted in, a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt.
 
Nicholls caught a break in the second on a hit-and-run. Lyons' fly ball to right field looked likely to result in a double play, with Justin Holt in motion with the pitch and already near second base when the ball reached rightfielder Jason Stone, But, Stone muffed the catch and Holt scored, with Lyons ending up at third base. One batter later, Vargas chopped one to shortstop Bryce Shepherd with the infield drawn in. Lyons ran on contact, but Shepherd's throw home was low and catcher Colton Besett struggled to corral it as Lyons slid in safely to make it 2-0.
 
UIW starter Jacob Potts allowed the first four batters to reach in the fifth and was pulled after Vargas singled in Christian Correa. Reliever Matthew Decker inherited a bases-loaded, one-out situation and induced Keith Cormier into a run-scoring groundball double play, plating Holt, before fanning pinch-hitter Tanner Vandevere. Decker fanned three while giving up one hit and a walk in his 2 2/3 innings of work.
 
Correa added a sacrifice fly off Alex Shaffer in the eighth while Cormier's sac fly scored Lyons in the ninth as Shaffer yielded a hit with a walk and two hit batsmen in the frame.
 
Potts took the loss, falling to 2-3. He went four-plus innings, surrendering four runs (two earned) on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
 
The Colonels visit Southern on Wednesday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast live on KTIB 640 AM.