Baseball wins two games at home tournament

The Nicholls State University baseball team finished the Mardi Gras Invitational tournament with one loss and two wins.

Despite suffering a 10-3 loss to Hofstra University to open the tournament, the Colonels were able to bounce back and earn a 3-0 win over LIU Brooklyn and an 11-4 win against Wagner College.

“I was proud of our players because they were ready for the weekend,” Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux said. “We’ve shown that we can bounce back. We lost to Hofstra on Thursday night but bounced back the next two days to win.”

Against Hofstra, Nicholls was held with no hits until the seventh inning, when junior outfielder Gavin Wehby led off with 1 of his 2 hits of the night. Hofstra’s pitchers allowed Nicholls four hits while they managed 18.

Freshman Bryan Taylor took the loss for the Colonels in his first career start, allowing three earned runs on four hits in two innings of work.

Senior pitcher Cole Stapler threw eight straight shutout innings to lead the Colonels to victory over LIU Brooklyn on the second day of tournament play.

Each team had six hits on the night, but the Colonels gained momentum on the bases after junior Kyle Knauth’s homerun in the sixth inning was followed by Wehby batting in another run in the next inning. Senior Justin Holt scored in the seventh inning, making it 3-0.

In the closing game against Wagner, junior Cayden Hatcher started on the mound and allowed four earned runs on eight hits and struck out four. Sophomore Adam Tarver took the win for the Colonels pitching 2.1 innings, allowing no hits and striking out 3. Redshirt senior Mike Hanchar and junior Kyle Craft each pitched a shutout innings of relief.

Junior Chet Neihaus changed the game when his ball was hit past the center fielder, allowing three Colonel runners to make it home. Neihaus then beat the odds by outrunning the throw home and scoring one for himself.

On the weekend, Thibodeaux said he was proud of his teams’ ability to defend its home field in a six-team tournament.

“Our guys are really awesome,” Thibodeaux said.  “They have a lot of pride in their school and they have a lot of pride in being able to defend Didier Field.”