Omaha? Maybe, maybe not
May 27, 2015
Player of the Week: Mak Bynum
May 27, 2015
For the second-straight season, the Nicholls baseball team enjoyed a highly successful winning regular season.
For the second-straight season, the Colonels couldn’t carry that success into postseason play, losing both of its games in the Southland Conference Tournament.
The Colonels entered the weekend tournament seeded No. 3 out of eight teams – a premiere ranking that gave the team high hopes of winning the tournament and securing the automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
But Nicholls couldn’t build on those lofty expectations, losing two-straight one-run games to Central Arkansas and Northwestern State to end its season.
The defeats ended the Colonels’ season with a 34-19-1 record – setbacks that will stay on Colonels coach Seth Thibodeaux’s mind throughout the offseason.
“As a coach, you take it personally,” Thibodeaux said of the early exit. “You feel like you could have done some things differently to prepare the team a little better. I’m frustrated because of the little things. Not scoring when we had a chance to early on was one of those things.”
Not taking advantage of opportunities and a lack of timely plays were a theme for Nicholls throughout its two days in the tournament.
In the tournament’s opening game against Central Arkansas, the Colonels’ defense was the killer. Nicholls committed five errors in the game, which allowed the Beas to go on top 2-1 in the fourth inning and 3-1 in the sixth.
After Nicholls scored a run in the seventh to cut the gap to 3-2, the Bears took control, scoring two runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to take a 7-2 lead.
The Colonels fought and nearly pulled off a miracle rally in the ninth, scoring four runs before being retired to end the game.
A slow start wasn’t the problem for the Colonels a day later against the Demons. Nicholls jumped on top 2-0 with runs in the first and second innings. But a four-run fifth for Northwestern State doomed the Colonels.
Nicholls tried to recover, cutting the lead to one in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Joey Morales. But the Demons slammed the door in the ninth to earn the win.
