BATON ROUGE, La. - After being held hitless through five innings and trailing 10-0, the Nicholls State University baseball team pushed across five runs in the final inning but fell short of knocking off No. 16 LSU, 10-6, Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
Edgar Alvarez singled in the sixth for the first hit of the night and Nicholls (24-17) added seven more in the latter innings including an eighth-inning long home run by
Xane Washington.
In the ninth, the Colonels used run-scoring singles by
Basiel Williams and Alvarez, and an RBI double by
Parker Coddou to close the gap before LSU (30-14) got a strikeout to end the game.
Alvarez was the lone Colonel with a multi-hit game. He singled up the middle off of Ty Floyd to breakup LSU's no-hit bid in the sixth.
Josh Mancuso (2-1) suffered the loss, allowing two earned runs in the start. He pitched 2.0 innings with five hits and struck out two. Both Tiger runs came on RBI singles in the second.
LSU had a big third frame against Brandon Ely to extend its lead to 7-0. After scoring on a single, Josh Pearson followed with a 3-run home run and Jacob Berry hit a solo shot. It was one of two long balls for Pearson, who finished with five RBIs after adding a solo homer in the fifth.
The Tigers added a run in the sixth and seventh before the Colonels rallied.
Washington ended the shutout in the eighth with home run No. 7 -- a deep shot over the left-center wall.
In the ninth, Nicholls totaled four hits and took advantage of two Tiger errors.
Nick Fields led off the frame with a pinch-hit double. After Williams' RBI single, the Colonels made it 10-3 by scoring on a wild pitch. Coddou doubled to right for the next run and
Dane Simon lined out for the first out of the inning, but it was deep enough in right for
Austin Trahan to tag from third for a sac fly.
After Washington moved Coddou over on a groundout, Alvarez ripped a single to right for the final run of the game. LSU brought in Eric Reyzelman for the final strikeout.
Jacob Hasty earned with victory with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings of relief.
For Nicholls, Simon and Trahan also singled in the game. On the mound, a total of nine Colonels pitched.
Evan Keith struck out two but allowed one homer.
Luke Barbier,
Brandon Andrews,
Mason Turner, and
Nick Hill also recorded a strikeout.
ON DECK
The Colonels will hit the road for the final time in league play, taking on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game series. Friday's opener is scheduled for 6 p.m.
