THIBODAUX, La. - After suffering a tough 9-8 loss in the series opening against UIW, the Nicholls State University baseball team earned a split in the doubleheader with an 8-1 win in the nightcap on Thursday at Ben Meyer Diamond at Didier Field.
The series finale is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m.
GAME 1 - UIW 9, Nicholls 8
The Cardinals pushed across two runs in the eighth inning to rally for a 9-8 win in the series opener.
Chase Gearing tossed six solid innings in his first start this season and left the game with an 8-4 lead. However, the bullpen could not keep the lead as UIW racked up 10 of their 17 hits in the final three innings.
Xane Washington,
Austin Cain and
Garrett Felix each had two hits for the Colonels.
Gerardo Villarreal hit an RBI triple in the first and Cain and Felix both followed with run-scoring doubles for an early 3-0 lead.
After a 30-minute rain delay, each team scored a run in the second inning. Nicholls went up 4-1 after an RBI groudout by
Edgar Alvarez.
UIW tied the game in the third, scoring three runs on three hits. Cameron Crotte ended the big inning for the Cardinals with an RBI single.
Gearing and UIW starter Kayden Cassidy then both got dialed in with shutouts in the fourth and fifth innings. But in the sixth, the Colonels pieced together a four-run frame.
With bases loaded and one out, Luis Rodriguez took over on the mound and on his first pitch, pinch-hitter
Jayden Kay snunk the ball just inside the left field line for a 2-run double. Washington followed with a triple in the same corner for two runs and an 8-4 lead.
But UIW caught fire in the seventh, pounding out six hits for three runs. Then in the eighth, Hernan Yanez came through with the game-winning runs, plating two on an RBI single up the middle.
Cade Evans took the loss, allowing two earned runs on four hits.
GAME 2 - Nicholls 8, UIW 1
Nicholls jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first again but this time it was more than enough for
Michael Quevedo and company as the Colonels picked up an 8-1 victory.
Quevedo pitched 6.2 innings and allowed just four hits and one earned run.
Harper Jordan finished off the game with 2.1 shutout innings.
Nicholls more than doubled UIW in hits, finishing with a 13-6 advantage.
Xane Washington had two of the hits, including a 2-run home run in the first, and
Austin Cain led with a 3-for-4 day. He drove in the third run in the opening inning.
The Colonels then scored their next three runs on RBI doubles. Coddou had one in the second inning before Cain and Felix accounted for the other two in the fourth. Then in the fifth, Washington gave Nicholls an 8-0 advantage with a 2-run single.
Sterling Sutcliffe ended the shutout bid with a solo home run in the seventh.
Joining Washington and Cain with multi-hit efforts were Alvarez and and Felix with two each.
