Nicholls baseball rode its longest winning streak of the season heading into their second weekend of conference play when the Colonels took an unexpected hit.

On Friday, March 18, the Colonels opened their Southland Conference series at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The Islanders took a two run leading in the bottom of the first inning off starting pitcher Justin Sinibaldi. After the teams traded empty frames in the second inning, the conference leading hitter Nicholls’ Kyle Reese stepped up to the plate.

TAMCC pitcher Chris Falwell then threw a fastball high inside, which made contact with Reese’s face and broke his cheekbone and nose. Reese immediately hit the ground, where he remained for several minutes. When he got up, blood covered his face and he was immediately transferred to the hospital in Corpus Christi where he underwent surgery.

The Colonels responded immediately, scoring three runs in the frame to take a one-run lead. The teams traded runs in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh innings, but the Islanders scored two runs in the seventh to take the lead 5-4, eventually taking the opening game by that score.

Nicholls got some payback in the next game, winning the middle game of the series 4-1, but the damage was done with the loss of Reese in the first game. Reese batted a robust .409 (29 hits in 72 at bats) with 29 runs batted in.

The Colonels are 3-7 since losing Reese, including six SLC losses and a sweep at the hands of Sam Houston State University, currently third in the SLC standings, at home. Nicholls has been outscored 40-70 without Reese in the lineup.

“Unfortunately, our club has given up too many big innings,” Seth Thibodeaux, head coach, said. “We’ve been really hard to score on since I’ve been here, this year that hasn’t been the case. We can be a whole lot better.”

After the SHSU series, the Colonels hosted the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, which was broadcasted on regional TV. Nicholls took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning and held it until ninth. But a bases-loaded hit, followed by an error handling the ball in centerfield, scored all three runners and gave the Ragin’ Cajuns a one run lead. The Colonels got a runner to third base with two outs in the ninth, but were unable to tie the score, losing 5-4.

“We’ve got some new faces that are learning how to play at this level, you have to bring it every day,” Thibodeaux said.

The Colonels returned to the diamond to win their next two games, 5-4 on March 30 against the University of South Alabama and 6-5 on April 1 against Southeastern Louisiana University. The win against SELU snapped the Lions 14-game winning streak and gave the Colonels their first SLC win in four contests. However, SLU went on to improve their conference leading record to 11-1 the next two games, beating Nicholls 8-14 and 2-15 respectively.

With six SLC series remaining, there is still almost two months for the Colonels to play their best ball heading into the conference tournament, and Thibodeaux mentioned Reese could start taking batting practice again as early as this weekend but is very cautious to rush him back.

“There are some things that are happening for us in the middle of the season,” Thibodeaux said. “I think we can throw a punch this week and put ourselves in position for a great stretch run.”