Bruce J. Hebert
December 11, 2006
Houma man leads police on chase
December 13, 2006
When Nicholls State opens its baseball season in mid-February, the Colonels will be nearly a month into their quest to reach the Southland Conference tournament. “When we get back in January, we start working out all the way through the end of May or June,” said head coach Chip Durham.
“So we’re looking at a long haul,” he said. “The key for us is to go home for the Christmas holidays—get away from baseball for a little while—get refreshed for when we come back in the middle of January, and from there it’s a long haul.”
The Colonels schedule, released last week, opens with 10 of the team’s first 13 games on the road. During that span the Colonels face UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi Valley State, UNO and 2006 NCAA Tournament team Oklahoma State.
Nicholls home slate opens on Feb. 13 at UL-Lafayette. The team’s home opener is Feb. 23 against Mississippi Valley State.
In all, Nicholls plays 11 games against four teams that reached last year’s NCAA Tournament—Oklahoma State, South Alabama, Tulane and conference opponent Texas-Arlington. Durham said he stresses the significance of playing top-tier competition. “I think the biggest thing is it gives our guys a chance to play teams that are at a high level, to see where we need to get to go to a Regional Tournament and compete.
“Playing the better teams, I feel like is going to make us better. I feel like, as a head coach, you don’t get better by playing lesser talent. You get better by playing better talent.”
Durham’s goal for the team is to be well prepared once they enter Southland Conference play, which opens March 16 with a road series at Texas State. Its first home-conference series starts March 23 against McNeese State.
“I think our main focus is our conference,” said Durham. “We’ve got to get it done in our conference games and get to that .500 level in conference, which I think puts you in a situation to get a conference-tournament bid, go the tournament and win it, then go to a regional.”
Durham added despite the tough competition, his team expects to compete in each game. “When we go there, we’re going there to beat them,” Durham said of opposing teams. “For us, we don’t feel like there are teams that we’re not supposed to beat.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids, and we might take it on the chin a few times. But there will be a point … where they’re going to stand up and say that’s not going to happen again.”
Throughout conference play the Colonels have midweek games against Tulane, Southern Mississippi, Southern, South Alabama and LSU. Durham said the close proximity of other quality teams is a benefit for the Nicholls State program. “Being in south Louisiana, that’s what helps so much with our scheduling,” explained Durham. “We’re so close to a lot of good teams that are just one hour or three hours away. That’s a pretty good deal. We get a lot of good teams. We can go play those guys and get back without a bunch of long trips for midweek games.”
As for the team, Durham says he is excited about the players suiting up for the Colonels. “It’s going to be exciting,” he said. “We’ve got a great group of kids. They play hard, and they go out and they compete. It’s going to be interesting to see a lot of the teams, if they take us lightly, how it’ll end up.”
He added that the Colonels’ biggest key to success is staying healthy. “I think if we can stay healthy,” said Durham, “and give ourselves a little bit of depth, I think we’ll have a chance to compete.”
Photo provided by Doug Keese/NSU/ Nicholls baseball coach Chip Durham announced the Colonels 2007 schedule last week. The Colonels begin play on Feb. 13 at UL-Lafayette and open their home schedule on Feb. 23 against Mississippi Valley State.
