The men’s baseball team has struggled out of the gate this season with a 1-9 overall record. The only win came against Murray State during the series, which the Colonels lost. The Colonels traveled to College Station to play Texas A&M (8-2) Tuesday night at Olsen Field. The Colonels lost both games. The final score of the first game was 5-1. In the bottom of the first inning, Aggies centerfielder Brodie Greene led the inning off with a double down the left field line and was brought home for the score with a shot up the middle by Daman Aaron to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the second inning, the Colonels remained hitless with Brandt Boudreaux grounding out, senior Brett Hoeflich walking, and freshman Kevin Persick grounded into double play. In the top of the second, the Aggies took advantage of some Colonels errors and scored four runs.
The Colonels got off to a slow start offensively and did not get their first hit until the fourth inning in which Boudreaux hit a single to third base. The first Colonel run came in the sixth when junior Josh Swenson hit a double down the left field line and eventually scored from a hit by sophomore Keith Kulbeth, which he grounded out. This was the only run scored by the Colonels.
Colonel starter Jake Parrish pitched all the innings for Nicholls and retired 17 straight Aggie batters. Parrish gave up eight hits, struck out six batters and walked just one through eight innings of work. The Colonels’ coach Chip Durham was happy with Parrish’s performance as a pitcher.
“I’m very proud of Parrish. He went out and pitched a heck of a ball game for us against a really good-hitting ball club,” Durham said. “Texas A&M is one of the top teams in the country, and tonight we saw what we’ve been looking for from him. He got settled in and just dominated them from the third inning on.”
The Aggies combined for eight hits and four RBI.
For the Aggies, third baseman Dane Carter batted a perfect game with four at bats and one RBI.
In the second game, Texas A&M defeated the Colonels Wednesday afternoon with three home runs. Colonels pitcher Ryan Harding suffered the loss and fell 0-3 on the season. He surrendered six earned runs through four innings and struck out three batters.
Shane Minks got the win for the Aggies and gave up six hits over six innings. Minks did not strike out a single Nicholls batter. The Aggies scored their first two runs in the bottom of the second. In the fifth, the Aggies hit two home runs to give the Aggies a 9-0 advantage. Durham said the pitchers threw many strikes.
“We threw strikes today, but they swung the bats. They took advantage of the pitches we left hanging over the plate. We just have to build off this, regroup after this loss today and get back to Thibodaux,” Durham said.
The Colonels finally scored some runs in the sixth, adding three runs on four base hits, but the Aggies put more runs on the board to finish the game at 14-3.
The Colonels will host Texas State at 6:30 p.m. March 11.
