THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University baseball team returns to conference action this weekend against Southeastern Louisiana University, with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. on Friday in Hammond.
 
The Colonels are coming off of a disappointing performance against Tulane on Tuesday, but remain at the top of the Southland Conference standings. Nicholls and Southeastern were tied for first place as recently as April 19. Nicholls gained sole possession of the conference lead in their last series against the University of New Orleans, and will seek to build on their lead against the Lions, who are coming off of six straight losses.
 
Lefty Taylor Byrd (7-2) will take his usual role as the Friday starter for the Colonels, boasting a league-leading 1.25 ERA. Southpaw Grant Borne (6-2) carries a 3.06 ERA and has the third most strikeouts in the conference with 63. Righty Brandon Jackson (3-1) will get the nod on Sunday, entering the contest with a 1.80 ERA and team-leading, .233 opponent batting average.
 
Southeastern will throw lefty Kyle Cedotal on Friday and Tate Scioneaux on Saturday. Sunday's pitcher has not been announced. Cedotal (2-2) has an ERA of 1.69 and Scioneaux (6-4) has an ERA of 3.27.
 
Leo Vargas leads Nicholls offensively with a .308 batting average and 37 runs scored. Keith Cormier has a team-high 38 RBIs and is second on the team in batting average, hitting .304 on the season. Philip Lyons has scored 35 runs and has 16 runs batted in with a .274 batting average entering the series.
 
The Lions are led by Jameson Fisher, hitting .349 with 27 runs batted in and a team-high 33 runs score. Andrew Godbold leads the team in RBIs with 40, has scored 33 runs, and is hitting .333 on the season.
 
The teams will face off on Friday at 6 p.m. in Hammond and on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Thibodaux, before returning to Hammond for the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on KTIB 640 AM.