THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University softball team will play its final home series of the year as the Colonels take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game set starting Friday night at the Colonel Softball Complex.
GAMEDAY INFO
Nicholls (30-17, 14-7 SLC) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (11-30, 3-15 SLC)
Thibodaux, Louisiana – Colonel Softball Complex
Friday, April 28– 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 29– 12 p.m.
Saturday, April 29– 2 p.m.
Live Stats
SPECIAL PROMOTIONS
- Friday night, Nicholls will be wearing pink jerseys in conjunction with the program's annual Strike Out Cancer Night, presented by the Cancer Center of Thibodaux Regional. Fans are encouraged to wear pink as well to support breast cancer awareness.
- Saturday will be 90s Day and Senior Day. The Colonels will have 90s-themed walkup music and your favorite hits from the decade will be played throughout the doubleheader.
- Following Saturday's doubleheader, the program will honor its six-member 2017 Senior Class -
Caitlyn Carroll,
Taylor Hastings,
Jackie Johnson,
Brooke Morris,
Haley Stevenson and
Jessica Taylor.
FIRST PITCH
- After winning their first five series of conference play including two sweeps, the Colonels have dropped the last two. Nicholls played at Northwestern State in its last series and took the second game, 6-2, but fell in the other two.
- With six games remaining, Nicholls is 4.0 games behind McNeese for first place. With Abilene Christian ineligible for the postseason, the Colonels would be the No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament. Nicholls is 1.0 games ahead of Lamar, with the teams set to square off next weekend.
- The Colonels will be looking to continue their dominance at home where they are currently 11-2 with two conference sweeps. Last season, Nicholls finished with a 17-2 record at The Plex and had three SLC sweeps in front of the home crowd.
STORYLINES
- Despite falling in four of their last six league games, the Colonels still rank among the leaders in the Southland in hitting, pitching and defense. The team is second in batting average (.281), earned run average (2.38) and opponent batting average (.229), and leads the SLC in fielding percentage (.972).
- In last season's series at Corpus Christi, Nicholls swept the Islanders for its only road sweep of the year. After winning the opener, 5-3, the Colonels shut out AMCC the rest of the way, 5-0 and 1-0.
-
Samantha Mracich and
Veronica Villafranco carry 10-plus on-base streaks into the series. Mracich, who saw her 10-game hitting streak end last weekend, has reached base in 13 consecutive games while Villafranco has a team best 14-game streaking going.
- Nicholls currently has two batters ranking in the top 10 of the SLC in average -
Samantha Mracich (.390/4th) and
Amanda Gianelloni (.333/10th). Mracich is tied for 22nd in the NCAA with 62 hits on the year, while Gianelloni is eighth in the SLC in RBIs (29).
- Senior
Jackie Johnson and sophomore
Megan Landry rank third and fourth, respectively, in the Southland in strikeouts at 131 and 123. Johnson is fourth in ERA at 2.15 and Landry is ninth at 2.72.
- Senior
Brooke Morris has been one of the toughest players to strike out over the last two seasons. After fanning just once in 2016, Morris ranks eighth in the NCAA with three strikeouts in 170 plate appearances.
SCOUTING THE ISLANDERS
- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi brings a three-game winning streak to Thibodaux after its doubleheader sweep of Prairie View A&M on Tuesday. The Islanders ended the weekend with a victory over HBU, 4-1, to start the streak.
- The Islanders have struggled offensively this season, ranking last in the SLC in several categories including in batting average at .201. Mackinzee Griebel has been the lone bright spot for the lineup, ranking 15th in the league with a .321 average.
- The pitching staff ranks ninth in the Southland with a 3.79 ERA. Heading the staff has been Liz Carter with a 9-15 record and a 3.19 ERA. Carter is third in the SLC in innings pitched (160.1) and is second in strikeouts (139). Carter is the reigning SLC pitcher of the week after going 2-1 with a 0.54 ERA and 27 strikeouts.
ON DECK
Nicholls will hit the road for its final series of the regular season, taking on Lamar on May 5-6. The series was adjusted and the teams will now play a doubleheader Friday starting at 4 p.m. Saturday's regular season finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.
