LAKE CHARLES, La. – The No. 4 Nicholls State University baseball team rallied with four runs in the sixth to take its first lead over No. 8 UIW, but the Cardinals answered with a five-run seventh and held on to eliminate the Colonels with an 9-8 victory Saturday afternoon in the Lake Charles bracket of the Southland Conference Tournament.
With the loss, Nicholls wraps up head coach
Mike Silva's first season with a 26-25 overall record for its first winning campaign since 2017. With the win Thursday against Northwestern State, the Colonels also won their first postseason game since '18.
UIW advances to play McNeese Saturday night and will have to defeat the Cowboys twice to advance to next weekend's Southland Championship series.
At the plate,
Garrett Felix and
Edgar Alvarez had monster games for the Colonels. Felix homered twice and drove in four runs while Alvarez racked up a four-hit effort. After UIW got on the board in the third with a grand slam, Felix hit a solo shot in the fifth.
Trailing 4-1 in the sixth, Nicholls plated four runs to grab its first lead of the day.
Basiel Williams stroked an RBI single through the left side before Felix hammered a 1-0 pitch down the left field line for a two-run double.
Kyle Boudreaux capped the big winning with an RBI single.
In the seventh, Nicholls threatened to extend its lead after
Xane Washington walked and moved to third on an Alvarez double. But UIW's Steve Hayward struck out three straight to keep the deficit at 5-4. In the bottom half, UIW used five hits and took advantage of a Colonel error to re-take the lead. After tying the game with an RBI single,
Alec Paz fielded a grounder at first and tried to get the force at second, but the ball bounced off the turf and went into the outfield for the go-ahead run. UIW followed with run-scoring doubles by Jimmy DeLeon and Hernan Yanez for a 9-5 advantage.
But Felix again sparked the offense. He homered to lead off the eighth for his fifth homer against UIW this season, and
Dane Simon came up with an RBI single up the middle. With two on and one out, Alvarez singled for his fourth hit and drove in Simon to make it a 9-8 game. However, the Colonels were unable to tie it as they left two runners on.
In the ninth, Felix reached base on a one-out walk before Hayward got two groundouts to end the game.
Nico Saltaformaggio made the start, throwing 5.0 innings with two strikeouts. He allowed five hits and walked four, but settled in after the third-inning grand slam.
David Vial Jr. was tagged with the loss, allowed two earned runs on three hits. Despite taking the loss, Vial had a clutch sixth inning to keep a 5-4 lead as he stranded a runner on third with three popups in the infield.
POSTSEASON NOTES
- Nicholls finished with its first winning season since 2017.
- With his 3-for-4 day,
Garrett Felix ended the season with a team-high .303 batting average.
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Edgar Alvarez ended the year with a 27-game reached base streak. He led the team with 49 RBIs.
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Xane Washington also extended his on-base streak to 15 games.
- Alvarez, Washington and
Alec Paz each finished with 9 home runs -- the most for a Colonel since Jake Ritchie in 2004.
