Nicholls eliminates McNeese

SUGAR LAND, Texas — The Nicholls State Colonels eliminated McNeese State with a 10-4 win Thursday morning in the first game of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament elimination bracket at Constellation Field.

No. 7 seed Nicholls Colonels racked up 10 runs on a dozen hits to advance to face the loser between Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State today at 9 a.m.

The Colonels got on the board first, spurred by a double down the right field line in their first at bat by Ethan Valdez. Joey Morales and Chet Niehaus grounded out to second base back-to-back to send Valdez home for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Nicholls doubled its lead at the bottom of the second with a Dillon Belle sac fly to bring Lee Clark home for a 2-0 edge.

Another sac fly at the bottom of the third from Morales made it a 3-0 game. McNeese had runners on second and third in the top of the fifth with one out and Joe Provenzano brought Jacob Stracner home to pull the Cowboys to within two runs at 3-1.

The sac flies kept coming as one at the bottom of the sixth plated another for Nicholls and put a runner on third, followed by a deep RBI double to the right field corner for a 5-1 Colonels’ lead. The two sides matched each other with seven hits apiece through the top of the seventh.

Morales continued his strong outing with an RBI single to right field, bringing in Nicholls’ sixth run of the game at the bottom of seventh.

The Colonels put up four more runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach at 10-2. The Cowboys registered two more runs in the top of the ninth.

Brady Bell went 3-of-4 while scoring three runs to pace Nicholls. Right-hander Cayden Hatcher tossed eight innings, giving up just one earned run and eight hits on 130 pitches.

Northwestern State 5, Southeastern La. 1

SUGAR LAND, Texas — For the first time since 2004, Northwestern State is 2-0 to open the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament, doing so in dominant fashion with a win over No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana.

After failing to crack a strong opening eight innings from Southeastern pitcher Josh Green, NSU came alive in the top of the ninth for five runs.

An RBI single to right field from Drew Avans plated Cody Grosse for a 1-0 Lions lead at the bottom of the first but left three on to end the inning. Southeastern left the bases loaded again to end the third, still holding a 1-0 advantage.

Neither side’s hitters were able to get much going through the middle stages. 

The teams combined for only five hits by the time the seventh inning came to end. Heading into the eighth, Newcomer of the Year Jerry Maddox had tossed six strikeouts while Josh Green fanned three while allowing just two hits from the Southeastern mound.

Maddox made way for left-hander Tyler Pigott at the bottom of the eighth, finishing with 123 pitches, six strikeouts and just four hits. Pigott promptly retired the Lions before the Demons headed to the ninth looking for their first run.

Player of the Year David Fry sent a deep double base hit to center field and stole third on a wild pitch on the next at bat. NSU showed life as J.P. Lagreco slammed a line drive past second base to send Fry to the plate and tie the game at 1-1 with one out.

Northwestern State then registered base hits in five straight at-bats, one for an RBI single and one to put a runner on second before Lenni Kunert singled through the right side. He ended up advancing to third on an errant throw which advanced Larson Fontenot home along with Luke Watson for a 3-1 Demon lead.

Caleb Ricca then singled down the left field line to plate Kunert, stole second, and scored on a Peyton Davis RBI single to push the lead to 5-1 NSU.

Southeastern pitcher Bryce Tassin finally escaped the inning which saw him give up three earned runs on four hits against five batters.

In the Lions’ last chance at the bottom of the ninth, Pigott struck out three to put the game away for the Demons, 5-1.

Southeastern Louisiana moves down to the elimination bracket and will play No. 7 Nicholls today at 9 a.m. The Demons will take on the winner of that matchup at 4 p.m.

Sam Houston State 4, Central Arkansas 2

SUGAR LAND, Texas — Sam Houston State survived their first game of the elimination bracket with a win over No. 5 Central Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon.

A four-run first and a strong outing from right-hander Hayden Wesneski was enough to send the Bears home and secure the top seed’s spot in tomorrow’s bracket.

The Bearkats did not look the part of the sluggish upset-prone side that dropped its opening-round matchup to No. 8 New Orleans yesterday. A five-hit first inning paved the way for an early 4-0 lead, led by three straight RBI singles with two outs.

Central Arkansas got on the board with a Keaton Presley RBI to score Josh Somdecerff at the bottom of the third. Cody Davenport kept the Bearkats off the board from the mound for five straight innings, striking out four. UCA halved the lead at the bottom of the fifth with a ground out RBI to make it a 4-2 game.

On the game’s restart, Will Brand took over on the mound for UCA, retiring the Bearkats to give the Bears a chance to catch up at the bottom of the eighth inning. Wesneski made way for Relief Pitcher of the Year Dakota Mills for Sam Houston, who closed out the game with his 15th save of season and a 4-2 Bearkat win.

Presley went 2-for-4 with one RBI for the Bears but the team could not find a breakthrough and failed to capitalize on six baserunners left on.

Wesneski (7-3) got the win, striking out three on 74 pitches.

The Bearkats move on to face the loser of Thursday night’s matchup between No. 4 Houston Baptist and No. 8 New Orleans today at noon in another elimination game.