Wanda LaCraze
May 23, 2018
Fletcher student sworn in as chair of Louisiana Council of Student Body Presidents
May 24, 2018
It was win or go home for Nicholls on Thursday at the Southland Conference Tournament.
The Colonels responded with one of their strongest performances of the season, earning the right to play another day.
Nicholls crushed McNeese State 10-4 in the loser’s bracket of the Southland Conference Tournament and they’re now one of six teams left in the eight-team field.
The Colonels will play at 9 a.m. tomorrow against the loser between Northwestern State and Southeastern.
The Lions sent Nicholls to the loser’s bracket on Wednesday in a 4-2 victory over Nicholls.
But on Thursday, the Colonels were dominant.
Nicholls scored single runs in the first, second and third innings go up 3-0 – a lead which starting pitcher Caleb Hatcher never relinquished.
Hatcher tossed eight innings, allowing just one run in the win.
He left the game with a 10-1 lead, thanks to dominant offense from Nicholls.
After McNeese plated a run in the top of the fifth inning to trim the lead to 3-1, the Colonels’ bats got hot again.
Nicholls plated two runs in the sixth, one run in the seventh, then four more in the eighth to push the game out of reach.
Joey Morales was huge for the Colonels in victory, going 2-of-4 with 4 RBI. Several other Colonels also enjoyed McNeese pitching, recording multi-hit games.
McNeese threatened in the top 9, getting two runners aboard, then pounding a three-run home run to cut Nicholls’ lead to 10-4.
After the dinger, the Cowboys kept battling, pushing
But the Colonels cooled the rally. After burning through a couple relief pitchers, coach Seth Thibodeaux turned to starter Jacob Bedevian, who iced the rally, inducing a double play to the first batter he faced to end the game.
If the Colonels win tomorrow at 9, they will play again at 4 p.m for a chance to punch a ticket to Championship Saturday.
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