Live Stats (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Nicholls State University baseball team faces off with Ohio State University, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Southern Miss this weekend in the Cox Diamond Invitational at the Blue Wahoos Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Reds Double-A affiliate.

The Colonels (1-7) are on the heels of a 2-1 road loss to UL-Lafayette where junior Jake Bedevian tossed Nicholls' first quality start of the season, lasting 6.2 innings. Senior Gage Teer and Joey Morales recorded two hits each to account for four of the Colonels seven knocks. Senior Joey Morales extended his hitting streak to five games and has reached base in all eight games this season.

While Nicholls has been outscored 60-38 thus far, its offensive production has shown up late in games, holding a 14-6 advantage in scoring over the final two innings.

Nicholls faces Ohio State Friday at 2 p.m. The Buckeyes split their last four games at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge, topping Utah twice and falling to No. 2 Oregon State in both games. Senior Noah McGowan boasts a team-high .429 batting average and is second in the country with 19 RBIs. This will be the first meeting between the two teams.

The Colonels then face EMU Saturday at 11 a.m. on Cox Sports Television. The Eagles dropped two out of three to Jackson State. EMU also features a solid offensive player in Max Schuemann, who's had the best opening eight-game stretch since 1998. He ranks in the top-30 nationally in batting average (.500), hits (18), runs (12), steals (9) and total bases (30).

Nicholls concludes the event against No. 16 Southern Miss, a team that bested the Colonels 16-8 last season in Biloxi. The Golden Eagles topped Southland Conference foe New Orleans 9-7 on Tuesday. Junior Luke Reynolds fronts the squad offensively with a .469 batting average along with team highs in runs (14), hits (15), doubles (5), home runs (4) and RBI (15). Southern Miss ranks 17^th in Division I with a .333 batting average.

Visit geauxcolonels.com and follow the team on Twitter @Nicholls_BASE for the most up-to-date information on Nicholls baseball. Season tickets, six suite tickets per game at $20/ticket, 15- and 25-game flex packages and Coaches Committee passes are available for purchase. Contact the ticket office at 985-448-4790 or go to www.nichollstickets.com for more information.