NEW ORLEANS, La. - With the No. 1 seed and a regular season title secured, the Nicholls State University baseball team rested a handful of starters in its finale against New Orleans and despite a fifth-inning rally, the Colonels fell via run-rule, 14-4, in eight innings on Saturday afternoon at Maestri Field.
Nicholls (30-22, 15-9 SLC) struck first with a run in the third but New Orleans immediately answered with five in the bottom half. The Colonels pieced together a three-run fifth to make the score 5-4; however, UNO scored nine unanswered runs for the eight-inning victory.
The loss prevented the Colonels their sixth Southland series victory this season. With the win, New Orleans (33-22, 13-11 SLC) avoided the play-in game in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament and will be the No. 4 seed. Nicholls opens up play at 6 p.m. Wednesday night in Lake Charles against the winner of host No. 6 seed McNeese and No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Xane Washington led Nicholls on offense with a 2-for-3 day including a triple before exiting in the latter innings.
Basiel Williams had a single and scored two of the Colonels' four runs and
Erick Ordonez added a double.
Michael Quevedo took the loss, allowing five earned runs on eight hits in 2.1 innings.
Tyler Theriot had the longest showing on the mound for the Colonels, lasting 3.1 innings with one earned run on four hits.
New Orleans pounded out 17 hits in the victory, led by Anthony Herron Jr. who hit for the cycle. His 2-run home run in the eighth ended the game early.
Gerardo Villarreal plated the first run of the day on a fielder's choice for a 1-0 Colonel lead, but that was quickly erased with a solo home run by Tyler Bischke. The Privateers then added four more runs in the frame.
The fifth-inning rally was started by a Williams leadoff single. Washington followed with a laser shot over the shortstop and he hustled to third for an RBI triple.
Jayden Kay hit a towering fly to right that was lost in the sun, dropping for an RBI single. The final run was thanks to a
Wes Toups fielder's choice.
Nicholls got a double play to get out of the fifth before UNO broke open the game with a six-run sixth. New Orleans scored again in the seventh and Herron followed with his walk-off homer in the eighth.
For the game, Villarreal and
Austin Cain chipped in with singles as Nicholls totaled seven hits.
