The little things began to add up over the weekend at Ray Didier Field, leaving the Nicholls State Colonels defeated twice in a three-game series against Lamar, 2-5, 8-5, 2-7. Nicholls (5-23, 1-9 SLC) is last place in the east division, while the Cardinals (19-9, 9-1 SLC) are leading the east division and are first place in conference. Lamar has won nine of its last 12 outings.
Brandt Boudreaux leads the Colonels at the plate, hitting .308 with 14 RBIs. Three other Colonels are tied with Boudreaux in the RBI race.
In the first game of the series, the Colonels took an early 2-0 lead over Lamar, but a four-run comeback cost Nicholls the game.
Nicholls scored first as Brett Hoeflich led off the second inning with a double and scored when Anthony Wray drove a single down the left field line.
Two batters later, after being sacrificed by Shane Barksdale, Wray was brought home on a single by T.J. Menerey.
“I thought we had a great start from [Jake] Parrish and a great start offensively with our two runs in the second,” coach Chip Durham said.
In the fifth inning, Lamar bounced back and scored four runs to take the lead.
With two out and runners at second and third, the Colonels had the Cardinal in his cage, but Steven Tucker drove a two-run hit to the gap in right center field.
Tucker scored later on a wild pitch, as did Chris Dunkin who reached as hit batsman.
The Cardinals scored one in the seventh to seal the win.
Hoeflich, Menerey and Wray each went 2 for 4, but Durham felt like the little things were keeping his ball club from becoming a better team.
“They put those runs up in the fifth and the other run in the seventh, but if you look back, three of their runs came from a two-out walk and a two-out error and a runner at second who scored on a sacrifice fly after reaching third on a passed ball,” Durham said. “If you take away those three, we have a 2-2 ballgame going to the ninth. And your chances are better tied in the ninth than down by three.”
The winning pitcher for Lamar was Brian Sisk, who improved to 6-1 on the season. Sisk allowed nine hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter.
Jake Parrish fell to 1-2 for the Colonels, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits and fanning four Cardinal batters through 4.2 innings of work.
In the second game of the series, with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Corey Arceneaux drove a shot over the right center field wall to lift the Colonels to an 8-5 victory.
“We had a lot of opportunities to score throughout the game and didn’t take advantage of them.” Durham said.
Bryan Myers went the distance for the Colonels on the mound. The senior right-hander fanned eight batters and walked two, allowing five runs.
Down by three in the bottom of the eighth, the Colonels posted four on the board to take a 5-4 lead.
Lamar tied the game at five with a run in the top of the ninth.
In the Colonel half of the inning, Kulbeth drew a lead-off walk and was sacrificed over. A batter later, Wray reached on a base-on-balls, bringing Arceneaux to the plate.
The Colonels travel to Central Arkansas in the series April 11 at 6:30 pm.
