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SUGAR LAND, Texas – The Nicholls State University baseball team rallied for five runs in the ninth inning to upset No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana University, 7-6, in an elimination game Friday at the 2018 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament.
"There are so many things that cross your mind (when you go down by four)," Nicholls head coach
Seth Thibodeaux said. "All I know is that you can never count us out because when our backs are against the wall, that's when we perform our best. Some seniors did some big time things there late and it was a treat to see."
The Colonels will now face No. 3 Northwestern State University on Friday. The contest will start 30 minutes after the game between No. 1 Sam Houston State/No. 4 Houston Baptist concludes. The Red and Gray must win that battle and top the Demons again Saturday at 9 a.m. to earn a spot in the championship game.
Trailing 6-2, Nicholls' (28-31) last-ditch scoring barrage at Constellation Field consisted of five hits and two SLU (37-22) errors. The comeback commenced with leadoff batter
Xane Washington reaching on an error by Lions shortstop Brennan Breaud. A
Dillon Belle single followed by a
Gage Teer double brought home Washington. Junior
Champ Davison, who pinch ran for Belle, then came home on a wild pitch to make the score 6-4 in the Lions favor.
Junior second baseman
Ethan Valdez ripped a single up the middle that scored Teer and put the Colonels within one. Senior shortstop
Joey Morales also hit a single up the middle, and fellow senior outfielder
Chet Niehaus was plunked to load the bases with one out. Senior catcher
Kyle Knauth grounded into what would have been a game-ending double play, but Breaud's throw went wide, allowing Morales to follow Valdez to home plate as the game-winning run.
Junior
Jacob Bedevian cruised through the early stages of the contest, retiring 11 straight batters from the last out of the first to the first out of the fifth. Bedevian was haunted by a walk and a hit by pitch in the fifth. The Lions plated both of those runs as Breaud followed with a single and Cody Grosse recorded a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
Washington scored for Nicholls during the next half inning, reaching on a single through the left side and advancing to third on a wild pickoff attempt by SLU starting pitcher Carlisle Koestler. The Houma native later scurried home on a passed ball.
In the bottom of the seventh, sophomore
Dillon Belle lifted a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right-center field to tie the game at two.
The Lions added four unearned runs in the ninth. Leadoff hitter Evan Pace reached on an error and Trenon Trosclair walked with one out to put runners on first and second.
Grosse then brought home Pace on a single through the right side, and an overthrow by Knauth on a stolen base attempt at second allowed Trosclair to score, putting the Lions ahead 4-2. Taylor Schwaner drove in two more runs on a single into left-center before the Colonels retaliated.
Only two of SLU's six runs were earned. Both were charged to Bedevian, who gave up three hits and two walks and totaled two strikeouts. Graduate student
Christian Bahlinger tossed 2.2 innings without allowing an earned run. Senior
Jarred Scott picked up his second win of the season as he induced a popout by Kyle Schimpf to conclude the ninth.
Koestler matched Bedevian with six strong innings, scattering four hits and surrendering one unearned run. He also added three strikeouts and two walks. Jared Biddy (2-2) was charged with the loss as the pitcher of record.
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@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.
