Alvin J. Benoit
May 11, 2009
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It’s safe to say that the Nicholls’ 2008-09 baseball season has not gone the way head coach Chip Durham and the team initially envisioned.
Before the season, a buzz filled the air at the university’s Ray E. Didier Field that hadn’t been heard in quite some time.
A good offseason pointed to the team possibly turning the corner and becoming a sleeper team in the Southland Conference.
The players were excited, the coaches were excited and the fans were talking.
When the season finally began, the Colonels appeared to be competitors for a conference tournament berth. They opened their season with a three-game sweep of Chicago State, and gave the University of Alabama all it could handle the following weekend.
At different points during the season, Nicholls put together three, four and five-game winning streaks and even knocked off number-one ranked LSU in Baton Rouge in late April.
By correcting costly errors that had derailed them in past years, the Colonels were surrounded by conference bid chatter.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
By season’s end, unforeseen injuries would take their toll on Nicholls. The team’s two ace pitchers, senior Lance Dupuis and sophomore Seth Webster, went out for the season.
Shortstop Stephen Gauthe, second baseman Keith Kulbeth and catcher Kevin Schelgel were also hobbled throughout the year.
Before long, the “We have finally arrived” talk was replaced with the familiar, “Oh no, not this again.”
Durham is the first to admit the season has been a letdown, but knows his team is better than the performance on the field indicates.
“It’s been really disappointing because I feel, up until this point, this team has underachieved,” he said. “We’ve been real close in a lot of games this year. We had our chances, but we didn’t get it done.”
On the eve of their final series of the season – home against McNeese State beginning tomorrow and running through Saturday – the Colonels are 18-31, overall, with an 8-22 record in conference play.
They are sitting in 11th place in the conference, only ahead of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Durham blames his team’s downfall in the second half of the season on their failure to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Routine defensive plays deteriorated as well, costing Nicholls several games.
“To me, where we really hurt ourselves is we’ve been poor defensively, and we’ve been poor executing offensively,” he said. “I’m not talking about going out and hitting .300 or .350. We just need to come up with those timely hits.
“That’s what Division I baseball is all about,” he added. “As far as our position players are concerned, we have a bunch of really good kids. It’s not that our team batting average isn’t up there, we’re just not playing consistent in the field or at the plate.”
On the other hand, the coach commended his pitching staff for stepping up in the absence of Dupuis and Webster. Despite having to move Sunday starter Jarret Dunnam to Friday and weekday starters junior Tyler Minto and freshman Ryan Cooper to Saturday and Sunday respectively, the staff has maintained its stiff competitiveness all season, the coach said.
Currently, the Colonels are third in the conference in pitching, with a team ERA of 4.59.
“Those guys have really competed, and we are really proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished,” Durham said. “I am really proud of our pitching staff. We are sitting high in the league in pitching and have really pitched well.”
Even though the Colonels’ season ends with Saturday’s McNeese series, Durham said the work will not stop. The adversity his team has faced this season has taught them a lot about the game and persevering.
“The biggest goal for us over the summer is to get healthy, refreshed and refocused,” he said. “This season isn’t over, but we have to get healthy. We’re going to go and grind out the rest of the season and then who knows.
“We only lose Josh Swenson in the outfield and four pitchers (Lance Guidroz, Ryan Harding, Ross Larson and Jake Parrish) in the bullpen to graduation,” Durham continued. “Hopefully, these other guys have learned.”
Nicholls State University’s failure to advance runners on offense and play consistently on defense hurt this season in close games, according to head coach Chip Durham. Despite high expectations at the start of the season, the Colonels end the year all but eliminated from conference tournament contention.
