LINCOLN, NE – The Nicholls State University baseball team's comeback attempt fell short in its 7-6 loss to the University of Nebraska on Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Friday night.
 
After falling behind 5-2, the Colonels opened the seventh inning by loading the bases via a pair of walks drawn by MaCrae Kendrick and Basiel Williams and a base hit by Drake Anderson. Then Gerardo Villarreal plated Kendrick with a sacrifice fly before Jaden Collura doubled down the left field line to bring Williams and Anderson home to tie the game (5-5).
 
However, in the home half of the seventh, the Cornhuskers loaded the bases with two walks and a single. Then Josh Caron laced a single to center field and brought in two runs to put Nebraska up 7-5.
 
Nicholls loaded the bases again in the ensuing frame when Kendrick reached on a fielder's choice, followed by another Drake Anderson base knock, and a Villarreal walk. The Colonels took advantage of a wild pitch to score one run, but could not put together any more offense the rest of the way.
 
The scoring began in the fourth inning when Caron hit a three-run blast. In the following stanza, Williams hit a RBI single to right field and later scored after taking advantage of the game's only error to make the score 3-2, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers extended their lead with a sacrifice fly and RBI base hit in the fifth and sixth frame, respectively.
 
The Colonels used three pitchers and gave up 11 hits, with six strikeouts and six walks. Starting pitcher Jacob Mayers allowed five hits, four runs and tallied half of the Colonels strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work. Dylan Farley (1-1) picked up his first loss of the season as he gave up three hits and three runs in 1.1 innings. Nico Saltaformaggio allowed three hits in two scoreless innings.
 
UP NEXT
Game two of the series will be on Saturday, March 16 at 2 p.m.