HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Nicholls State University baseball team plated two runs in the fifth to take the lead and the bullpen took care of the rest as the Colonels picked up a 3-2 victory at No. 10 Southern Miss on Wednesday night at Pete Taylor Park.
After edging Tulane at home on Tuesday night, Nicholls (7-8) traveled to Hattiesburg and knocked off a nationally-ranked Golden Eagles squad for the second straight season. Nicholls has won three of the last four meetings against Southern Miss with two wins coming in Biloxi where they will square off again on March 17.
Tyler Avery notched the win with 3.0 shutout innings, striking out three en route to his first victory of the season. Avery,
Karson Trichel and
Cole Poirrier blanked Southern Miss in the final five frames.
Southern Miss (11-2) struck first with a solo home run by Matthew Russo in the opening inning, but
Nico Rijo-Berger answered with his own solo shot in third for his second homer of the year. The Golden Eagles then took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a triple and an error. Avery took over for
Austin Vargas on the bump and retired the next three batters. Vargas struck out three and allowed two hits in his start.
In the Colonel fifth,
Hudson Mattox started off with a hit-by-pitch before
Jaxon Milam stroked a one-out double to the gap in right center.
Clayton Pourciau followed with a squeeze bunt that was booted by Russo charging from first, plating the tying run.
Keegan Giger then gave Nicholls the 3-2 lead after dropping a single down in center field.
Avery sat down Southern Miss in order in the fifth and sixth innings before
Karson Trichel took over in the seventh. After giving up a one-out double, Trichel left the runner stranded with a flyout and groundout.
In the eighth, Southern Miss filled the bags with one out after two singles and a hit-by-pitch. Poirrier subbed in and struck out the first batter before forcing a groundout to first. On the play,
Caston Thompson fielded it and dove to tag the base just in time to keep the score at 3-2.
Poirrier worked a perfect ninth, striking out the final two batters for his first save of the season.
Nicholls outhit USM, 7-5, with Thompson, Pourciau,
Greyson Shafer, and
Carter Jenkins each adding a single. Thompson has now hit safely in 13 of 15 games to start his Colonel career.
The five hits for the Golden Eagle lineup was a season low.
Thomas Crabtree was tagged with the loss for Southern Miss, striking out eight in 4.1 innings with three runs on three hits.
ON DECK
Nicholls will return to Southland play this weekend with a three-game series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Friday's opener (March 6) is scheduled for 6:30 PM.
