LAKE CHARLES, La. - The No. 4 Nicholls State University baseball team was unable to keep pace with top seed McNeese as the Colonels fell 8-4 Friday night in the Lake Charles Southland Tournament winner's bracket game at Joe Miller Ballpark.
With the loss, Nicholls (26-24) will face No. 8 UIW in an elimination game on Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner will take on McNeese at 6 p.m.
The Cowboys outhit Nicholls, 14-9, but three of the Colonels' hits came in the ninth inning for the team's only run that was not aided by McNeese. All nine hits on the day for Nicholls were singles while the Cowboys totaled three home runs and two doubles.
Nicholls took advantage of errant pitching by Cowboy starter Chance Stone, who walked four and hit a batter. He left the game in the opening inning but not before walking in two runs as
Jayden Kay and
Jaden Collura each picked up an RBI.
The lead was short-lived as Andruw Gonzalez hit a two-run home run off of
Tyler Theriot to even the score in the second. Then in the third, Kade Hunter belted a solo shot for a 3-2 Cowboy advantage.
Nicholls tied it back up in the bottom of the third thanks to a Cowboy error, and McNeese retook the lead in the fourth on a Kade Morris RBI single.
The Cowboys continued to find ways to score, plating a run in five consecutive innings for a 7-3 lead through six. Theriot was unable to make it through the sixth, allowing a season-high seven earned runs on nine hits.
Facing Southland Reliever of the Year Cameron Foster, Nicholls pieced together three consecutive singles in the ninth with
Alec Paz driving in the final run of the night. But Foster closed out his impressive outing, earning the save with his 10th strikeout in five innings of work.
Collura, Paz and
Xane Washington each totaled two hits for the Colonels. One of the singles in the ninth came off the bat of
Edgar Alvarez, who extended his on-base streak to 26 games.
