Summertime questions
July 11, 2018
Music fest in downtown Houma Friday
July 11, 2018
The Nicholls State University baseball team finished a day short of its goals in the 2018 season.
Now, they’re working tirelessly throughout the offseason to make sure that they can go 24 hours farther next year and beyond.
The Colonels were one of the last teams into the Southland Conference Tournament this past season and they made serious waves while there, winning a couple ballgames before losing a day short of Championship Sunday.
But with a slew of returnees, a talented incoming recruiting class and a hunger to break the ice and get to the top, coach Seth Thibodeaux said he believes the Colonels are in a good place to achieve their goals when the season begins next spring.
“We came up a day short,” Thibodeaux said. “We were trying to make it to that last day and win the Southland Conference Tournament Title, but we came up short in the semifinals, but we’re not far away. We have a lot of good guys returning — some quality players and some leaders and we have some freshmen coming in that we’re really, really excited about. We like our club. We were able to hang on to our whole coaching staff, as well, so that builds continuity in our program, which is a good thing. We finished strong and we’re proud. Now, we’re eager to keep building.”
The Colonels peaked at the right time, sweeping the final regular season weekend of the season to punch a ticket into the conference tournament. While there, they stayed hot, beating McNeese State and Southeastern Louisiana — both in elimination games — to advance to the semifinals, where they were beaten by Northwestern State.
But those who know the full story of the Colonels’ 2018 season can tell you that the team played the hand it was dealt beautiful. If healthy, the Colonels wouldn’t have been struggling for a seed. They’d have likely been one of the top seeds.
Nicholls entered the season thinking it had pitching depth, but the team was ravished by injuries, which thrust younger players into roles they didn’t expect to have.
Pitcher Adam Tarver was lost to an injury, which left the Colonels without a guy they expected to be one of their top arms — a guy who posted a 7-2 record in 2017, while recording eight saves.
In his absence, Nicholls turned to Christian Bahlinger, who posted six saves in 66.1 innings.
While Bahlinger moved up to closer, several other young arms filled out the bullpen, which caused the Colonels to spend several of the season’s opening weeks trying to learn what player would fill out the roles in the bullpen and weekend starting rotation.
“We were so short-handed on the mound with devastating injuries,” Thibodeaux said. “But no one ever made any excuses. We stood up, stood tall and we fought it. I was proud of that. We didn’t bring home any hardware, but it’s on the doorstep. We feel like we have the right ingredients going into 2019.”
A lot of those “ingredients” the coach talked about are either proven returnees or prospects who will be new to the program next season.
Nicholls lost a solid, productive senior class, including guys like Lee Clark, Chet Niehaus, Gage Teer, Joey Morales, Kyle Knauth, Cayden Hatcher, Jarred Scott, Alex Ernestine, Bahlinger and Norry Galjour — a 10-player crop which Thibodeaux said will be near impossible to replace.
But the Colonels will try to do exactly what with a healthy Tarver returning in 2019, as well as Xane Washington, Dane Simon, Ethan Valdez and Brady Bell. The Colonels also will return Cyle Clayton, who was out injured in 2018.
Thibodeaux said he’s also eager to unveil a talented recruiting class, which features local products like Terrebonne’s Mason Turner, South Terrebonne’s Connor Brunet, South Lafourche’s Austin Cantrelle and Central Lafourche’s Brandon Babin.
Those players will mix with other high school signees and junior college guys to round out a class, which Thibodeaux believes is among the best the Colonels have had.
But perhaps more important than the players is the mojo around the program — an energy that is running so thick right now that you can cut it with a knife.
In the past several years, the Colonels have done so much work to Didier Field that it’s hardly recognizable — work which has brought the park up to the times. Work is still ongoing at the facility and it will be even better in the coming years.
But in addition to that, the Colonels’ baseball team is feeding off its surroundings, as well.
Thibodeaux said he’s so proud of the athletic department at Nicholls, which has thrived in the past 12 months. In addition to baseball’s successes, softball, men and women’s basketball, football and other sports have enjoyed successful seasons.
Thibodeaux jokingly called Thibodaux “Title Town,” adding that his team is hungry to win the next trophy.
“It’s great,” he said. “The energy is great. We all feel it. We can’t wait to get through the summer work and get started.”
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