THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University baseball team doubled up Southeastern in hits but was unable to capitalize, as the Colonels fell 3-2 in their Southland Conference series finale opener Thursday night on Ben Meyer Diamond at Didier Field.
The victory allowed Southeastern (23-26, 13-9 SLC) to stay in a tie for first with McNeese, while the Colonels (24-21, 11-11 SLC) slipped two games back in a tie for fourth. One win by SLU or McNeese in the final two games would eliminate Nicholls from contention for the Southland regular season title. Friday's Game 2 against the Lions is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth, Nicholls got off to a promising start when
Jayden Kay laced his third hit of the night, finding room down the first base line for a leadoff single. But the momentum came to a screeching halt when
Jaden Collura, who had two hits, put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to the pitcher. He was thrown out at first and Kay took a big turn around second and was caught in a rundown before being tagged out for a double play. Gage Trahan forced a groundout on the next batter to pick up his ninth save of the season.
Nicholls totaled eight hits in the loss with
Xane Washington doubling while
Alec Paz and
Austin Cain singled. On each of Collura's singles in the second and fifth innings, Kay went for an extra base and was thrown out at third both times by Lion right fielder Christian Garcia.
The Colonel pitching staff held SLU to four hits, but three resulted in a run scored. The Lions took advantage of a one-out walk in the third, later scoring on a Rhett Rosevear RBI single to center.
SLU made it 2-0 in the sixth with another RBI single by Preston Faulkner. But the Colonels answered in the bottom half when a Paz grounder drove in Washington, who led off the inning with a double off the left field wall.
Then in the seventh, Tristan Welch hit a solo home run into a palm tree in left center for a 3-1 Lion advantage.
The Colonels' final run was scored on a Paz RBI single through the right side in the eighth.
Devin Desandro (3-4) was the hard-luck loser for the Colonels, racking up eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings. He walked three with two of the runners leading to a run for the Lions. Five Colonels, including
Nick Heckman and
Gavin Galy with an inning of work, shut out SLU for the rest of the game and did not allow a hit.
For the Lions, Will Kinzeler improved to 4-1 on the season after six innings on the mound.
