THIBODAUX, La. - For the second time in as many nights, the Nicholls State University baseball team was unable to keep a late lead as New Orleans hit a pair of home runs in the ninth inning to secure the Southland opening series win with a 12-11 victory Saturday night on Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field.
Nicholls (17-9, 0-2 SLC) led 9-6 heading into the final frame before Bryce Calloway hit a three-run homer to knot the game. Following a pitching change, pinch-hitter Alexander Saunier gave the Privateers (12-10, 2-0 SLC) a 12-9 advantage with another three-run shot. In the bottom half,
Cade Crosby gave the Colonels life with a two-run homer but after putting two more on via a pair of walks, Calloway subbed in and forced a groundout to pick up the save.
The Colonels and Privateers will close out the series on Sunday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. Nicholls will be looking to snap a six-game skid and avoid being swept for the first time since early May of 2022.
After tallying single figures in hits the last five games, the Colonel bats exploded for 15 to match its fourth highest total of the season.
Parker Coddou led the way with a 4-for-6 outing which included a double and three runs scored.
Edgar Alvarez continued his stellar season at the plate with a towering two-run homer in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. He added a single and his batting average stands at .489 for the season. Crosby,
Garrett Felix and
Aaron Biediger also turned in two-hit efforts.
The teams traded a run in the first and second innings before UNO grabbed a 3-1 advantage in the third on a two-run double by Miguel Useche. Colonel starter
Dylan Farley left the game in the inning, finishing with three earned runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Nicholls answered right back in the bottom half, using six hits to plate four runs.
Narvin Booker Jr. started the big inning with his first homer as a Colonel. Biediger,
Drake Anderson and
Brayden Kuriger all followed with RBI singles for a 5-3 advantage. Booker then led off the fourth with a hit-by-pitch and scored on Alvarez's sixth long ball of the season as Nicholls led 7-3.
UNO chipped into the deficit with two runs in the fifth and a solo home run in the sixth by Issac Williams. But the Colonels got two back in the bottom of the sixth on run-scoring hits by Coddou and Biediger.
In the seventh and eighth frames,
Devin Desandro closed out his solid showing out of the bullpen by allowing a lone single. He finished the night with three earned runs on five hits in 5.1 innings.
The ninth inning dramatics started with a one-out single by Mitchell Sanford off of
Jack Nelson. Following a walk,
Sam Hill took over and gave up the game-tying homer.
Haden Luke then surrendered a single and a walk before Saunier's go-ahead homer.
Kyrin Tyson-Long came in to close out the game but ran into trouble after striking out the first batter. Anderson singled before Crosby sent a 1-1 pitch towards the scoreboard and over the wall for his third home run of the season. Long retired the next batter before issuing two straight walks. Calloway took over the pitching duties and a wild pitch moved the winning runs into scoring position. But he was able to retire Coddou with a groundout to end the comeback attempt.
Calloway was one of four Privateers to record two hits and led the team with five RBIs. Ryan Delorbe picked up the win with one earned run on four hits in 2.2 innings.
