Nicholls baseball hosting Mardi Gras Invitational

The Nicholls State University baseball team will host the Mardi Gras Invitational: Beads and Baseball on the Bayou Tournament this Thursday through Saturday at Ray E. Didier Field.

The four-day tournament will be presented by The Bayou Lafourche Area Convention and Visitor Bureau, and will consist of six teams.

The Colonels have not been able to host a tournament for the past two seasons, but Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux said he is excited to host multiple teams at Nicholls this week.

“A six-team tournament is kind of tough, and in the past it’s usually been a three-team tournament or a four-team tournament, so six is neat,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s a team effort and it’s hard, but I love hosting tournaments and playing multiple teams and our players do too.”

Of the six teams that will compete, three are from Louisiana and three are from New York.

Thibodeaux said although he doesn’t know much about the playing style of Wagner College, Hofstra University, and LIU Brooklyn, he knows that adding Southern University and Grambling State University to the mix will make for an interesting tournament.

“I enjoy hosting teams from New York and allowing our team to experience playing those kinds of teams,” Thibodeaux said. “I told the coaches that their guys are going to see a very festive atmosphere. They don’t get Mardi Gras in New York and they don’t know what it is, so I’m very excited that their players will never forget their trip to Thibodaux.”

Another incentive for all teams involved in this tournament is the exposure they will receive through televised games.

Cox Sports Television (CST) will broadcast the Nicholls-Hofstra game on Thursday, and on Friday, the network will broadcast the Nicholls vs. LIU-Brooklyn game. All games will be live-streamed on ESPN3.

“A national audience can click online and watch the games so it’s really neat to have CST come in and televise games too,” Thibodeaux said. “There will be tons of exposure for Nicholls.”

Thibodeaux said the community has jumped on board to make the tournament happen, and that they have taken an all-hands-on-deck approach to make sure they have everything they need.

Thibodeaux said in order to secure the finances Nicholls needed to run the tournament and make sure it is representative of Nicholls, Dr. Neal Weaver, Nicholls Vice President for University Advancement and Katie Callahan, Sports Sales Executive, have been working to ensure a successful weekend at Ray. E. Didier.

Senior pitcher Cole Stapler said hosting a tournament is a little different than playing a regular three-game series, and that the team will make adjustments so they will be prepared.

“Playing a tournament is a little different because we’re going to play each team only once, so it’s not like you’re preparing to play the same team over and over for three games,” Stapler said. “You have to basically re-prepare yourself for each team with different scout reports, different guys, and the different strengths of these teams.

As a pitcher, I only have to worry about one guy, but if you’re a position player, you have to worry about more guys in the lineup every night.”

According to senior catcher Alex Tucker, making in-game adjustments will be crucial for the Colonels to compete with three different teams in three days.

“Instead of making game-to-game adjustments like you would if you’re playing a team in a three-game series, you have to make in-game adjustments since you’re facing that team only one time,” Tucker said. “We look at it the same way as a normal series, but how you prepare is just a little bit different.”

Since three games will be played each day over the course of four days, Thibodeaux said a lot of things need to go right, including the weather.

The Colonels will also play a part in making sure things are running smoothly at The Did.

“For us as players, we don’t have a field crew or anything so we’ll have to be at the field more than we usually would,” Stapler said. “Instead of getting that down time in-between games, we’ll have to be out there working the field.”

Despite ongoing renovations to Ray E. Didier and all the extra work it takes to host a six-team tournament, Thibodeaux said his players and the Nicholls community would benefit from the exposure of the event.

“In workouts and in fall practice, we always talk about being the best we can be at home, so we’re proud to be able to do that,” Thibodeaux said. “It does cost a lot of money to put on a tournament but the reward is worth every penny.”