Final Stats NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Playing in his final road series for his career, senior Brandon Jackson threw eight shutout innings and fellow classmates Philip Lyons, Leo Vargas and Tyler Duplantis combined for four RBIs as the Nicholls State University baseball team clinched a series victory over Stephen F. Austin, winning 5-3 Sunday afternoon at Jaycees Field.
 
With three games to go, the Colonels (29-24, 18-9) are tied with Northwestern State in the standings, with both teams trailing Sam Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by one game. SFA falls to 18-32 overall and 9-18 in conference.
 
Jackson (4-2) held the Lumberjacks in check all day, allowing just five hits in eight innings of work. He faced the minimum in four different frames and took care of SFA himself in the eighth, recording two strikeouts before fielding a grounder to close out his day. He walked only one batter in the victory while striking out six.
 
At the plate, Nicholls scored once in the second before plating two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings. Duplantis, who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and extended his on-base streak to 15 games, gave the Red and Gray a 1-0 lead after his infield single brought home Seth Stevens. The Colonels would get four hits in the second but left the bases loaded.
 
In the fourth, the Colonels took advantage of some errant pitching by the Lumberjacks as Duplantis led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch before moving to second on a wild pitch. Following a walk to Darius Knight, Lyons grounded out to chase home Duplantis for a 2-0 Colonel lead. Knight moved to third on a passed ball, setting up Vargas for a RBI single to short.
 
The Colonels pushed their advantage to 5-0 in the next frame, highlighted by a run-scoring double down the left field line by Duplantis. Zorn then came through with a sacrifice fly, scoring Charles Morton.
 
Jackson gave way to John Santriano in the ninth, and SFA put together a late two-out rally. With two runners on, Conner Fikes cleared the bases with a triple and came home to score on the play after a throwing error. Santriano allowed one more single before forcing a groundout to second to end the game.
 
Along with Duplantis, the Colonels were led at the plate by Stevens and Christian Correa with two hits apiece.   
 
For SFA, Kyle Cross was tagged with the loss, dropping to 0-6 on the year. Fikes was one of three 'Jacks with two hits and led the team with two RBIs.
 
The Colonels will wrap up the regular season next weekend at home against McNeese State, starting with a Thursday night matchup at 6 p.m.
 
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