Colonels stumble against TAMU-Corpus Christi, drop series-opening doubleheader

THIBODAUX, La. — The Nicholls State University baseball program (13-16, 8-6 SLC) struggled in the team’s return to Southland play against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (8-21, 4-9 SLC) throughout Friday’s series-opening twin bill, initially faltering in a hard-fought extra innings slugfest by a 7-3 margin during the early-afternoon contest before avoiding the game two shutout behind a 5-1 loss, all over at Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field.

The first matchup of the day — scheduled as a seven inning bout — saw a dominant Red & Gray performance through five innings, as the Colonels pulled ahead by a 3-1 mark behind a pair RBI walks from seniors Dillon Belle and Alex Galy in the fourth along with a well-hit RBI single out of freshman Wes Toups later in the fifth. The sixth and seventh frames, however, saw the Islanders respond with one run in each, evening the score to force extras. A massive 10th frame from the TAMU-CC batting order saw the visitors surge ahead by four, eventually clinching the victory and the 1-0 series advantage.

The bottom half of the doubleheader started quick for A&M-Corpus Christi and remained that way throughout, as the Islanders pushed out to a 5-0 edge through the opening five frames before surrendering the lone run to the Colonels on a Dane Simon reach-on-error.

KEY STORYLINES & STATISTICS
— With the loss, the Colonels fall to 13-16 overall for the season along with an 8-6 mark in Southland competition; meanwhile, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi improves to an 8-21 mark on the year with a 4-9 record in league play.
— Senior Trever Kilcrease posted a solid 5.0 frames on the mound in the initial matchup of the twin bill, surrendering two runs on just one hit with four total strikeouts. A slew of relievers stepped in to close out the contest, the longest of which fell to sophomore Tyler Theriot (2-3), who collected his third loss of the year following 2.1 innings of work with four runs given up on two hits along with a trio of strikeouts.
— The second game quickly devolved into starter Chase Gearing’s (2-2) toughest outing sporting the Red & Gray, as the sophomore allowed four runs on six hits with just one strikeout through 3.2 frames on the rubber. The Nicholls bullpen accounted for the final 3.1 innings, as freshman Nico Saltaformaggio handled 1.1 frames with just one run surrendered on two hits before senior Peter Holland and sophomore Josh Mancuso each took over for 1.0 inning apiece.
— Offensively, a majority of the Colonels’ production came via sophomore Xane Washington, Simon and Toups, as the trio wrapped up the day responsible for six — two apiece — of the team’s 11 hits across the two matchups.

UP NEXT
The four-game series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi continues Saturday evening with game three, first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. at Didier Field.

STAY SOCIAL
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