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The Southland Conference Tournament didn’t quite go the way that the Nicholls baseball team expected it to, and even that is putting it mildly.
The Colonels entered the tournament as the No. 2 overall seed in the conference, one of the favorites to win the championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
But instead of dogpiling at the mound, the Colonels’ hopes fell flat, as the team lost two-straight games to end their season. The Colonels lost 4-2 to No. 7 McNeese State in the opening round last Wednesday before turning around and falling 3-2 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi the next day. The losses end Nicholls’ season with a 32-26 season – its best year under coach Seth Thibodeaux.
But it ends short of the team’s prize – a bitter spot for the Colonels’ coach.
“Did we want to come here and have this thing be done in two games? No. We didn’t want that,” Thibodeaux said after the loss to Corpus Christi. “But we accomplished so much. It was breaking that barrier that we needed to break – that mental barrier. (Our seniors) broke that battier. … It was a disappointing end, but still a very successful season.”
For Nicholls, the Southland Conference Tournament trip was a nightmare before it even started. That’s because the team found out just before departing for Conway, Arkansas, that senior ace Taylor Byrd was ruled academically ineligible and thus unable to make the trip with the team.
Without Byrd, the Colonels lost the best pitcher in the Southland Conference this past season. The lefty posted an 8-3 record with a 1.92 ERA during the season, striking out 80 batters in 89 innings of work.
Byrd appealed the decision unsuccessfully and was unable to pitch in the tournament.
Without the ace, Nicholls couldn’t quite find the proper chemistry to muster victory.
Against McNeese, the Colonels fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning – runs charged to Nicholls starter Ryan Deemes.
Deemes settled in and found success in the middle innings, but the Cowboys chased him in the fifth inning when they plated another run to take a 3-0 lead. The Cowboys added another in the eighth inning to own a 4-0 advantage.
But the Colonels never gave up in the opening round, making things uncomfortable in the bottom of the eighth for McNeese when slugger Seth Stevens poked a one-out, bases loaded double to score Darius Knight and David Zorn to make the score 4-2.
But the rally was thwarted the next at-bat when catcher Christian Correa hit into a double play to ice the rally.
From there, McNeese retired the side in the ninth inning to get the win – a timely victory considering that the Colonels swept the Cowboys to close out the 2014 regular season.
McNeese starting pitcher Kaleb Fontenot said he attacked the Colonels differently after facing them for the second time in a week.
“It’s just baseball. Every day is not the same,” he said. “I just stayed with the game plan and did what I could. I had the team behind me making good plays.”
With the loss, the Colonels headed to the loser’s bracket for a Thursday afternoon tilt with No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – another top-seeded team that was upset in round one.
To fight the elimination game, the Colonels handed the ball to veteran hurler Grant Borne, who tied Byrd for the team lead with eight wins on the season.
Unlike the McNeese game, Nicholls got off to a strong start against Corpus Christi, plating a first-inning run on solo home run from infielder Leo Vargas. But the lead only lasted a few minutes, as the Islanders got a run of their own in the bottom half to tie the game at 1.
In the top of the fourth inning, Nicholls went ahead by one again on an RBI single by Justin Smith. But again, the Islanders answered right back in the bottom half with a run of their own to level the score.
Corpus Christi built on that offense in the fifth inning, scoring another one-run inning to take a 3-2 lead.
From there, Nicholls was unable to rally on Islanders’ starter Trevor Belicek, who allowed the two runs in seven and one-third innings.
The Colonels also had no luck on Corpus Christi’s bullpen, failing to score a walk or hit in the final five outs of the game.
Islanders coach Scott Malone said he thought Corpus Christi had a chance to get some distance in the game, but couldn’t do so because of the Colonels’ elite pitching.
“Nicholls is built on pitching,” Malone said. “You ask Nicholls and they are going to tell you they’ve got the most depth on the mound and some of the most talented pitchers. I thought we did a great job setting the table, but we just didn’t finish (to create separation).”
But while Malone’s words are a compliment to Nicholls’ talent, they likely fall on deaf ears, as the Colonels deal with the realization that their solid season ended short of its goal.
Thibodeaux reiterated time and time again the importance of the team’s seniors to the Colonels’ future success as a program.
The coach said he hopes the lessons those players set will carry into the team’s younger players and build both tradition and legacy.
“It is important to understand how the seniors worked to get us here,” Thibodeaux said. “We have to hand off the torch now and get the other guys ready to go.”
Nicholls State University baseball slugger Keith Cormier takes a hack during a game this season. Cormier and the Colonels went winless at this weekend’s Southland Conference Tournament, ending the team’s season with a 32-26 overall record.
