Thanks to a strong pitching and defensive performance that held visiting Prairie View to only two runs and nine hits, the Colonels baseball team swept Prairie View in three games this past weekend.
B. D. Parker, head baseball coach, said the Colonels pitching staff consisting of sophomore Robbie Hebert, junior Dustin Atkins and senior Matt Overman played impressively this weekend.
“We pitched well. It looked like a typical series, and I thought we did come out and did a great job of throwing strikes,” Parker said.
The Colonels (3-0) starting rotation this weekend threw a combined 18 strikes, two walks and eight hits.
“We got a good staff. We threw a lot of strikes and had just two walks on the weekend, which is good,” Atkins said.
In the first contest, the Colonels defeated Prairie View (0-3) 6-0.
Hebert started and pitched six innings for the Colonels. He gave up only one walk, and struck out nine.
The Colonels scored first in the first inning when sophomore outfielder Kade Rodgers crossed the plate after a RBI by senior outfielder Bryan James to take an early 1-0 lead.
After two runs by sophomore infielder Jacob Naquin and Rodgers, the Colonels took a 3-0 lead.
In the third, junior infielder David Tano and Naquin each scored to push the lead to 5-0. Tano scored the final run after crossing base in the fifth, thanks to a wild pitch by Prairie View starter Phil Gooserand.
In the second game of the doubleheader last Saturday evening, the Colonels defeated Prairie View 7-1.
Overman received his first win of the season by striking out six, walking none and giving up one run on two hits in six innings.
Despite Overman overpowering pitches, Prairie View took a 1-0 lead when Chris Smith scored in the second inning.
After Prairie View’s first run, the Colonels would go on to score the final seven runs of the evening.
The Colonels were led by James, who led the offensively with three RBI’s and two hits for the night.
In the final game Sunday, the Colonels offense dominated and defeated Prairie View 13-1
Parker said he was impressed with the victory even though the Colonels struggled late in the game.
“I felt we played pretty clean through seven innings, but we got a little sloppy at the end when the game was out of reach,” Parker said.
The Colonels were led on the mound by junior pitcher Dustin Atkins, who struck out three and gave up five hits.
“I just went out there and tried to throw a lot of strikes, and get some ground balls,” Atkins said.
The Colonels had a total of nine hits and ten RBI for the contest. Junior infielder Scott Wearne led the way by going two for four with three runs and one RBI.
“Offensively, I felt we did a great job of scoring runs early in the ball game. We moved the ball around and did some good things, and it finally got to the point where we could break the ball game open,” Parker said.
Prairie View coach Michael Roberson said his team had their chances, but could not pull it off.
“We were definitely in the game. We had a couple of situations that we could have scratched a run. But this game is about good pitching, good hitting and good defense. We didn’t do any of those this weekend, and Nicholls did,” Roberson said.
The Colonels will now rest until Friday when they travel to Troy State for a three-game series.
“We are just going to go about our business and do the same thing and keep working on playing good, solid, fundamental baseball,” Parker said.