Southland Tournament Page
Conference Tournament Bracket
 
CONWAY, Ark.  – After a two-year absence, the Nicholls State University baseball team returns to postseason play as the Colonels begin their quest for their second Southland Conference Tournament title in school history, starting Wednesday with a matchup against McNeese State at 4 p.m. at Bear Stadium.
 
All of the Colonels' games will be broadcast live on KTIB 640 AM. Links for live stats, a video stream and streaming audio will all be available on geauxcolonels.com. For video streaming on mobile and tablet devices, please download the Southland's free app.
 
Nicholls claimed the No. 2 seed after winning its last five games, improving its record to 32-24 on the year and 21-9 in conference. Included in the five games was a season-ending sweep over McNeese (28-26), which slid down to the No. 7 seed. The winner of Nicholls/McNeese will face the winner of No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 6 Central Arkansas, while the losers meet in the consolation bracket. The other side of the double-elimination bracket pits No. 1 Sam Houston State against No. 8 Lamar and No. 4 Northwestern State against No. 5 Southeastern Louisiana.
 
The tournament is set up in similar fashion to the NCAA College World Series in that there are two brackets with the winners meeting for the championship. Unlike in Omaha, the bracket winners of the Southland tournament meet in a single game to decide the championship. The winner of the Southland tournament is the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament, which begins with regional play, May 30-June 2.
 
Right-hander Ryan Deemes (3-3, 3.40 earned run average) will start game one for the Colonels, going against McNeese's Kaleb Fontenot (5-2, 2.31 ERA). Deemes pitched 53 innings in 16 appearances, notching 11 starts on the year. The junior struck out 32 batters as Nicholls ended the regular season leading the conference in strikeouts (397). The staff also posted a league-best 2.58 ERA and had the second-lowest opposing batting average at .249. Third-team All-Southland honoree Grant Borne (8-2, 2.96 ERA, 78 Ks) is scheduled to pitch Thursday, with senior Brandon Jackson (4-2, 2.19 ERA, 49 Ks) slated to pitch Friday if necessary.
 
Nicholls faced Fontenot last Thursday, handing the sophomore only his second loss of the season in the Colonels' 6-0 victory. Nicholls tagged him for five runs on 11 hits in five innings, but just one run was earned after two errors helped contribute to the Colonels' early lead.
 
The Colonels head into the tournament with a .250 batting average, which ranked second-to-last in conference for the season. Leading the team is All-Southland honorable mention shortstop Leo Vargas (.302), who is the only Colonel hitting over .300. Second-team All-Southland outfielder Keith Cormier is second on the squad with a .295 average and leads the Colonels with 43 RBIs.
 
McNeese brings a .276 team batting average, led by All-Southland first-teamers Chayse Marion, Jackson Gooch and Andrew Guillotte. Marion has a team-best .329 average with four home runs and 38 RBIs, while Gooch is second at .315 with 54 runs and 38 RBIs. Guillotte is also hitting over .300, batting .306 with 71 hits and 18 stolen bases.
 
The Colonels will be making their fifth appearance in the conference tournament, posting a 7-5 record. In the team's last tournament in 2011, Nicholls won two games as a No. 8 seed before being eliminated. Nicholls has one tournament title, winning in 1998 to earn a berth into the NCAA Tournament.