THIBODAUX, La. - Nine early runs paired with a strong outing on the mound by
Devin Desandro led the Nicholls State University baseball team to a 12-2 victory in eight innings against New Orleans Friday night on Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field in the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Game.
With the win, Nicholls (23-15, 10-6 SLC) remained in a tie for first place in the standings with McNeese. The double-digit victory for the Colonels was the first in the series against New Orleans (22-17, 8-8 SLC) since 2013.
Desandro (3-3) matched his career-long outing with his eight-inning complete game, allowing six hits, an earned run and struck out five. In his last two starts at The Did, the Thibodaux native has tossed a combined 14 innings with one earned run and 13 strikeouts.
Jayden Kay paced the offense with two hits, and he was one of three Colonels with two RBIs. Kay capped a three-run first inning for Nicholls with a run-scoring single.
The defense chipped in early for Pink and White as
Parker Coddou was involved with double plays in the first two innings. With the bases loaded and no outs in the second, he fielded a grounder, stepped on second base and fired to first for the 6-3 double play. A run scored on the play but it was all UNO would get in the frame.
In the third, Nicholls took advantage of errant pitching and two Privateer errors to plate six runs. With the bases loaded, two runs scored on hit-by-pitches, and two more came home on walks. The Colonels also scored another on an error. Coddou started the big inning with an RBI single.
Desandro ran into a little trouble in the fourth by giving up three straight two-out singles, but limited UNO to just a single run. In the bottom half, two more walks resulted in a
Jaden Collura RBI single for a 10-2 lead.
Desandro struck out the side in the sixth and worked around a leadoff double in the seventh. After working a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, Nicholls ended the game in the bottom half.
Xane Washington started off the inning with a hit-by-pitch, and then scored from first on double to left center by
Edgar Alvarez. Following a wild pitch, Kay found a gap through the left side to end the game in the eighth via run-rule.
Tyler LeBlanc suffered his first loss with six earned runs on five hits in 1.1 innings. He walked three and hit two batters.
Tyler Bischke accounted for two of UNO's six hits and had the lone RBI.
ON DECK
Nicholls will look to clinch the series Saturday night with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
