PENSACOLA, Fla. – Fresh off of wins against American East favorite Stony Brook and No. 4 Louisiana State University, the Nicholls State University baseball team will take on the Cox Diamond Invitational, hosted by the Pensacola Sports Association and Cox Sports Television.
 
The Colonels (3-1) will take on North Florida at 11 a.m. on Friday, Southern Miss at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Troy at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday in the three-day round-robin tournament at the Waterfront Stadium at the Vince Whibb's Jr. Community Maritime Park.
 
"We are honored to be a part of a great tournament in one of the best baseball venues in the south," Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux said. "I really appreciate the hard work of the Pensacola Sports Association and we are excited to bring our team to Pensacola.  We have some alumni there and we have some players on our team from the Pensacola area and I know they'll be excited to be coming home to play in front of friends and family."
 
Nicholls picked up right where it left off last year with a dominant pitching staff, currently ranked first in the Southland Conference and 14^th in the nation with a 1.50 ERA. Grant Borne and righties Ryan Deemes and Justin Sinibaldi are tied for first in the nation with 0.00 ERAs. Sinibaldi was named the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week after tossing six scoreless innings with four strikeouts in a 10-0 win over Stony Brook on opening weekend. Borne, a preseason All-Southland First Team selection is first in the nation in walks per nine innings at 0.00. Reliever Stuart Holmes leads the conference and is second in the nation with two saves, and also carries a 0.00 ERA.
 
Last year the Colonels struggled at the plate as the second-to-last offensive team in the Southland, batting just .248. Outstanding pitching and sound defense allowed Nicholls to overcome their deficiencies at the plate. The Colonels' top-ranked pitching squad and defense that led the nation in double plays turned, masked their poor performance at the plate. Through four games this season Nicholls has shown a marked improvement offensively, made even more impressive when taking into account the caliber of opponents the Colonels have faced.
 
Nicholls is batting .281 as a team and has seven players with averages over .300. The Colonels are ranked 10^th in the nation in triples and 12^th in triples per game. Darius Knight is first in the Southland Conference in stolen bases and stolen bases per game. He ranks 24^th and 13^th nationally in the two categories. Designated hitter Marc Frazier, who also pitches for the squad, is ranked first in the nation in a category called "toughest to strike out." Frazier has seen action in three of the Colonels four games this year and has not struck out once.
 
On Friday against North Florida, Nicholls is set to start Frazier (0-1), who threw four innings and gave up three earned runs with four strikeouts in the season-opener against the Seawolves. Righty Tyler Moore (0-1) will take the mound for the Ospreys. Moore had a 3.18 ERA in 2014, but his year was cut short due to injury and he was awarded a medical redshirt. Moore surrendered two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts in a loss to Virginia Military Institute less than a week ago on Feb. 13.
 
Borne will be on the hill Saturday as the Colonels take on Southern Miss, making his second start of the season. Borne tossed four innings, fanned four batters and allowed just three hits in a 4-1 victory over Stony Brook. The Golden Eagles are set to throw righty James McMahon (1-0), who enters the game with a 3.38 ERA. McMahon allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and four walks through 5.1 innings in a win over Murray State on Saturday.
 
Sinibaldi (1-0) will make his second start of the season in the final game of the tournament for Nicholls. Opening weekend's Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week held the Seawolves to a .211 batting average on Sunday. Right-hander Tucker Simpson will take the mound for Troy, looking to rebound from a tough outing against Northwestern State. The sophomore, drafted in the 39^th round by the Baltimore Orioles, walked three batters and allowed three runs on five hits in 1.1 innings on Sunday.
 
Frazier leads the Colonels offensively with a .375 batting average this season. Kyle Reese, Tanner Vandevere, Christian Correa and Alex Tucker have a team-high three RBIs apiece, while Correa, Knight and Justin Holt each have three runs scored this season.
 
Trent Higginbothem and Garrick Fergusson lead North Florida offensively, hitting .667 and .500 respectively. Dylan Burdeaux and Chase Reeves both bat a team-leading .500 for Southern Miss. Matt Sanders spearheads the Troy offensive attack with a .526 batting average, seven RBIs, five runs, a triple and a homerun.
 
Nicholls will face North Florida, Southern Miss and Troy in Florida this weekend before returning to Louisiana for a battle with Southern University at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Baton Rouge. All three games in the Cox Diamond Invitational will be broadcast live on KNSU 91.5 FM. Sunday's matchup with the Trojans will air on Cox Sports Television.
 
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