Photo Gallery
SUGAR LAND, Texas – The Nicholls State University baseball team dropped a 4-2 decision to second-seeded Southeastern Louisiana University Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the 2018 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Constellation Field.
Senior
Alex Ernestine fell to 5-6 as he tossed six innings and allowed four runs on four hits and four walks. Graduate student
Christian Bahlinger closed the game with two flawless frames.
At the plate, senior
Ethan Valdez recorded a game-high three hits. The seventh-seeded Colonels (26-31) outhit the opposition 10-4 but left nine runners on base.
Starting pitcher Corey Gaconi improved to 7-1 for the Lions (37-20), surrendering six hits during 7.1 scoreless innings. He also walked two and struck out three.
In the bottom of the second inning, Kyle Schimpf fought off a single into shallow center field and later scored on a groundout by Evan Pace, handing SLU an early 1-0 edge.
The Lions scored their final three runs with two outs, the first coming on a Cody Grosse single to center field in the fifth and the last two via a Daniel Wasinger homer in the sixth.
Nicholls made a valiant comeback attempt in the ninth, securing two runs with one out remaining. Freshman
Xane Washington led off with a single to left field, advanced on a groundout and scored on a double down the right-field line by senior
Gage Teer. Valdez later drove home Teer on a single through the left side, but fellow senior
Joey Morales lined out to Breaud to end the game.
The Colonels return to Constellation Field on Thursday to face No. 6 McNeese in an elimination game. Nicholls won the coin toss to be the home team. First pitch is scheduled for 9 a.m. CT.
Visit
geauxcolonels.com and follow the team on Twitter
@Nicholls_BASE for the most up-to-date information on Nicholls baseball. Please click
here for tickets and additional information on the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament.
