Colonels take 2 in SLC series

Fresh off their best season in recent years, the Nicholls State baseball team wanted to build on their momentum early in this year’s Southland Conference schedule.

So far, so good.

The Colonels won their first conference series.

Thanks to dominant pitching and clutch hitting, Nicholls took two of three games from conference rival Southeastern Louisiana this weekend.

The wins improved the Colonels to 9-7 on the season. Nicholls has also won seven of their past nine games.

The weekend series was a productive one for the Colonels, but the wins didn’t come easy.

Friday night, the Colonels scored a 10-9 victory in a back and forth thriller.

The Lions struck first, scoring three runs in the first inning off Nicholls standout senior starter Seth Webster.

The Colonels answered the challenge with multi-run innings in three of the first five frames to take a 7-5 lead to the sixth inning.

The Colonels added three more in the seventh inning to push ahead 10-5. But instead of coasting to victory, Nicholls held on for dear life, as the Lions scored four runs in the eighth inning to close the gap to one.

Once there, closer Jordan McCoy shut the door and sealed the win.

Saturday and Sunday’s games were more pitching oriented.

Saturday afternoon, Nicholls struck for two runs in the first and sixth innings against Lions pitcher Jordan Hymel. That was all the run support pitcher Patrick Shreve needed, as the Colonels’ starter went seven innings and allowed just one run to secure a 4-2 Nicholls win.

Sunday, the Colonels appeared to be well on their way to a sweep.

Leading 3-1 in the top of the eighth inning, Nicholls squandered the season finale, committing two of their four errors on the day to enable the Lions to score four runs and steal a 5-3 win.

Nicholls starter Mike Wisecarver was masterful in defeat, allowing just two earned runs in seven innings.