No. 2 Nicholls run-rules No. 7 AMCC to open SLC Tournament action

HAMMOND, La. – The No. 2 seed Nicholls State University baseball team got off to a blistering start in their title defense as the Colonels run-ruled No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in seven innings, cruising to a 14-2 victory Wednesday evening in the opening day of the Southland Conference Tournament on Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.

With the win, Nicholls (34-20) advances in the winners’ bracket with a 7 p.m. Thursday night game against No. 6 Southeastern. The Islanders (22-34) will take on No. 3 UNO in a losers’ bracket game at noon.

Nicholls pounded out 15 hits with three players tallying three-hit days — Edgar Alvarez, Gerardo Villarreal and Narvin Booker Jr. On the mound, Jacob Mayers (5-1) turned in a dominant outing with six strikeouts in six innings, allowing a run on four hits. He surpassed 100 strikeouts for the year, becoming the first Colonel with back-to-back 100-strikeout seasons.

For the offense, the 14 runs matched the program record for runs in a Southland Tournament game, set in 1998 against Sam Houston, and the run-rule win was the second for the Red and Gray after they upset top-seed Texas State in eight innings, 13-2, to start the 2010 tournament.

Against the Islanders, the Colonels scored in five of the first six innings, giving Mayers more than enough run support. The big early blow in the game came in the fourth when Garrett Felix blasted his fifth homer of the season for a three-run shot, putting the Colonels up 8-0.

In the first, Villarreal got things rolling with an RBI single. The inning was started with a pair of walks by Islander starter Zach Garcia. MaCrae Kendrick made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Nicholls doubled its lead in the second with RBI singles by Edgar Alvarez and Villarreal, then in the third, Kaden Amundson doubled down the line for a 5-0 advantage. An All-Tournament selection last season as a true freshman, Amundson was 2-for-2 with two RBI, a walk and put down a sacrifice.

Felix highlighted the four-run fourth with his homer to right, and Amundson made it 9-0 with a bases loaded walk.

After the Islanders cracked the scoring column with a solo homer by Mason Persons in the fifth, the offense exploded for a five-spot in the sixth. Drake Anderson started the frame with a solo home run, his fourth of the year, before Parker Coddou notched his first hit to make it 11-1. Alvarez, the Southland Player of the Year, then ripped a liner off the wall for two more runs.

Although Basiel Williams saw his 10-game hitting come to an end, he tallied the final RBI in the sixth with a bases loaded walk. Williams also saved a hit earlier with a diving catch in right to end the Islander fourth.

With Nicholls leading 14-1 in the seventh, Logan Vaughan made the final with a solo shot off of Chase Richter. With one on and not outs, Gavin Galy closed out the game by retiring the next three batters to seal the win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Garcia was tagged with the loss, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits in 3.0 innings. Vaughan had two of the Islanders’ five hits.