Baseball: Colonels outlast Lamar in 13 innings, 5-4

BEAUMONT, Texas – It took four hours and 13 innings, but the Nicholls State University baseball locked up its third Southland Conference series victory with a 5-4 win at Lamar Saturday afternoon at VIncent-Beck Stadium.

After both teams scored in the eighth with the end result being a 4-4 game, neither team scored again until the final inning. Nicholls loaded the bases after singles by Brady Bell and Will Ethridge, and Dane Simon was hit by a pitch to bring home the winning run. In the bottom half, Brandon Andrews retired Lamar in order for the victory.

The Colonels (15-13, 7-4 SLC) racked up 11 hits and had another clean sheet on defense with no errors. Five players had two-hit efforts, including Adam Tarver who had a solo home run, his team-leading fourth of the year and drove in another on a single in the eighth. Ethan Valdez, Champ Davison, Bell, and Simon were the others with multi-hit games.

Jacob Bedevian pitched 6.0 innings and allowed three earned runs on nine hits. After Beau Balado gave up a run in the eighth that tied the game at 4-4, Nick Heckman and Brandon Andrews shut out the Cardinals the rest of the way. Heckman gave up two hits in 3.1 innings and Andrews (1-2) allowed just a walk in 2.2 innings for the win.

Nicholls scored in the first on a passed ball and the teams traded homers in the third and fourth innings. Anthony Quirion sent one out for Lamar to tie the game at 1-1, but Tarver put Nicholls back on top in their next at-bat.

Lamar evened it up on a JC Correa homer, then took the lead in the sixth after Robin Adames drove a single up the middle for a 3-2 advantage.

The Colonels’ two-run eighth was started by a Davison double. Tarver drove him in on his single and Austin France gave Nicholls back the lead on a sacrifice fly. In the bottom half, Lamar had two singles off Balado before scoring on a bunt single to tie the game.

Ryan Erickson took the loss for LU after throwing 2.2 innings. Starter Jason Blanchard lasted 7.0 innings and struck out six.

ON DECK
The Colonels and Lamar wrap up the series Sunday at 1 p.m.