HAMMOND, La. - Hammond native Basiel Williams hit a game-tying home run in the ninth for the Nicholls State University baseball team before the Colonels capitalized on Southeastern miscues to pick up a 5-4 victory in 10 innings on Thursday night on Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Day 2 of the Southland Conference Tournament.

It was the third home run for the Colonels on the day with Garrett Felix and Drake Anderson leaving the yard with solo shots in the second. But after falling behind 3-2 in the third, Nicholls was held without a hit until Williams belted his seventh home run to even the score.

Nicholls took the lead in the inning after two Lion errors allowed Anderson to score, but the Lions evened it up with a solo homer by Jude Hall in the bottom half. In the 10th, Edgar Alvarez walked and came around to score on a wild pitch for a 5-4 lead. Nico Saltaformaggio finished his strong outing out of the bullpen with a three-up, three-down 10th to secure the win. 

With the victory, Nicholls (36-20) stays in the winner's bracket and will play Friday night at 7 p.m. against the winner of the early game between Southeastern (29-27) and New Orleans. 

After racking up 15 hits in Wednesday's opening round win, Nicholls was limited to five against SLU. Kaden Amundson's leadoff single in the third was the last hit for the Colonels until the ninth. Cade Crosby had the other single, putting down a perfect bunt in the 10th to set up Alvarez's game-winning run. 

Things look promising early for Nicholls as Felix and Anderson homered for the second time in as many days for a 2-0 lead. Southeastern quickly answered, however, tying the game with a two-run single by Bailyn Sorenson. Alvarez was able to help limit the damage by catching a line drive and stepping on first for an inning-ending double play. 

In the bottom of the third, the Lions caught a break when Parker Coley lifted a fly ball to left and it was lost in the lights, bouncing over the wall for a ground-rule double. Michael Quevedo retired the next two before Shea Thomas found just enough room through the left side for an RBI single and a 3-2 Lion lead. 

Quevedo lasted 5.0 innings with six strikeouts, allowing three earned runs on seven hits. His counterpart, Dakota Lee, settled in after the two early homers and threw 6.0 innings with three hits and seven strikeouts.

SLU's Jackson Rodriguez was on cruise control before Williams sent a 1-2 pitch over the left center wall for his first hit of the tournament to give the Colonels life. On the next play, Anderson skied a popup to shallow right and reached second after neither of three Lion defenders could come up with the catch. A wild pitch allowed Anderson to reach third and the SLU catcher fired the throw into left field, making it an easy 90-feet trot for Anderson to plate the go-ahead run. 

After SLU tied it in the bottom half, Nicholls ended the inning with a double play. 

Alvarez drew a walk to push his on-base streak to 60 games, then after Crosby's bunt single, Felix laid down a sacrifice to put runners in scoring position. Lakin Polk then bounced a wild pitch in the dirt as Nicholls took a 5-4 lead. 

For the Lion 10th, Parker Coddou had a highlight play for the second out before Saltformaggio struck out the final batter. It was his second strikeout of the night as he earned the win after tossing 5.0 innings.

The win was the eighth consecutive in the series against Southeastern. Third-year head coach Mike Silva improved to 7-0 in Hammond versus the Lions after sweeps in 2022 and earlier this season.