THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team will host Southeastern for a three-game set, starting Friday, April 19 with a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Swanner Field at Geo Surfaces Park. Saturday's finale is scheduled for noon.
Friday will serve as the team's annual Breast Cancer Awareness Game, presented by Thibodaux Regional Cancer Institute.
Southeastern (36-8, 13-2 SLC) is one of the two teams that Nicholls (23-20, 10-5 SLC) is chasing in the standings. The Colonels are coming off a series loss at HCU last weekend while the Lady Lions recorded a 14th consecutive series win by sweeping Northwestern State at home.
SLU has had the upper hand in the series as of late, winning nine of the last 10 meetings which included sweeps in their last two trips to Thibodaux. Nicholls ended a seven-game skid against Southeastern with an 8-2 win to open the series in Hammond last year, but SLU answered with 5-4 and 8-4 victories.
Nicholls and Southeastern feature the league's top pitching staffs in league play as they rank 1 and 2 in ERA. SLU has a 1.44 ERA and the Colonels are at 1.47. On offense, the Lady Lions lead the SLC with a .346 team batting average while Nicholls ranks fifth at .248.
The Colonels have three batters hitter over .300 in league play --
Erin Krause (.381),
Abby Andersen (.345) and
Reagan Heflin (.327). Enjoying a breakout season, Heflin also has a team-high 11 RBIs in conference.
ON DECK
Nicholls will head to Texas for a four-game road trip, starting with a matchup against national-ranked Texas on Thursday, April 25. The Colonels will then make the short trip to San Antonio for a weekend series at UIW.
