THIBODAUX, La. – One night after having its school-record, 14-game winning streak snapped, Southeastern Louisiana bounced back with a 14-8 Southland Conference win at Ray E. Didier Field over rival Nicholls.
Southeastern (21-7, 10-1 Southland) maintained its hold on first place in the conference standings.
The Lions got the scoring started in the second inning.
Nicholls (12-16, 3-8 Southland) starting pitcher Cole Stapler hit right fielder
Webb Bobo with a pitch to open up the inning.
Carson Crites followed by ripping a single into left field.
Left fielder
Drew Avans beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt for an infield hit, loading the bases with no outs. Bobo scored, and Avans was erased at second base, on a fielder's choice off the bat of catcher
Sam Roberson. Crites scored on a wild pitch to put the Lions up, 2-0.
Stapler (2-4) issued back-to-back walks to
Brennan Breaud and
Jameson Fisher to open up the third. Breaud scored to put the Lions on top, 3-0, when Colonel third baseman Dylan Manichia threw wildly to first on
Daniel Midyett's sacrifice bunt attempt.
Nicholls pulled within one in the bottom of the inning, threatening to tie the game.
Lion starting pitcher
Mac Sceroler (4-2) issued a walk to catcher Alex Tucker leading off the inning and Manichia followed with Nicholls' first home run of the season. Second baseman Ethan Valdez smacked a double into the gap in left-center field and advanced to third on a passed ball with one out.
Sceroler buckled down, fanning the next two batters to strand the potential tying run at third.
In the fifth the Lions chased Stapler from the game.
Breaud led off the inning with an infield single and the right-hander plunked Fisher with a pitch after Breaud stole second. With runners at first and second, Midyett smacked a single to center to drive in Breaud.
Reliever Alex Ernestine hit the first batter he faced, Bobo, to load the bases. With one out, Avans plated Fisher with a sacrifice fly to center field for a 5-2 lead.
Southeastern would explode for four runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh, going up 14-2, before the Colonels tacked on a pair of three-run innings in the seventh and eighth to complete the scoring.
Sceroler earned the win, allowing a pair of runs on four hits in six innings of work. The sophomore right-hander from Denham Springs, Louisiana, walked two and fanned four. Stapler was tagged with the loss.
Breaud (3-for-5), Avans (2-for-3) and Fisher (2-for-2) recorded multi-hit games. Breaud scored a game-high four runs. Fisher, the national leader in on-base percentage, reached base safely all five times he came to the plate.
Senior southpaw
Domenick Carlini (3-0, 1.24) draws the starting nod for Southeastern in Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale against Colonel junior left-hander Mike Hanchar (0-3, 5.14).
Fans are encouraged to "light it up blue" for Autism Awareness at Sunday's game. The series finale is also Family Day. A Kids Zone will be out for younger Lion fans, who are also invited to stand with their favorite player during the national anthem and run the bases after the conclusion of the game.
Sunday's game is also a Cane's Challenge contest. If the Lions score four runs or more in the game, fans can take their game ticket or student coupon to their local Raising Cane's to receive a free combo with the purchase of another of equal or greater value.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through the TuneIn Radio app (search for KSLU). Fans can also keep up with the games through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. Streaming video is available on LionVision, Southeastern's subscription-based video stream. Links for audio, video, stats, a gameday promotions schedule and tickets are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children (ages 3-12) for all individual Lion home games. Southeastern students are admitted free with a valid university ID card. Students and campus organizations can earn points toward their new Lion Up Loyalty account at any home game just by checking in on the mobile app while in attendance.
Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Fridays. The box office at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field opens one hour prior to the scheduled first pitch.
Tickets can also be purchased online at www.LionSports.net/Tickets or by contacting the athletics ticket office at (985) 549-5466 or 1-866-LION-TIX.
Southeastern 14, Nicholls 8 (Apr 02, 2016 at Thibodaux, La.)
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Southeastern........ 021 024 500 - 14 12 2 (21-7, 10-1)
Nicholls.................. 002 000 330 - 8 10 1 (12-16, 3-8)
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Pitchers: Southeastern - Sceroler, Mac; Von Rosenberg, Gabe (7); Green, Josh (8); Hurst, Cliff (9) and Roberson, Sam; Eades, Chris. Nicholls - Stapler, Cole; Ernestine, Alex (5); Hansen, Zach (6); Speer, Hunter (7); Smith, Jake (9) and Tucker, Alex; Knauth, Kyle.
Win-Sceroler, Mac(4-2) Loss-Stapler, Cole(2-4) T-3:27 A-975
HR NICH - Manichia, Dylan 2.
Weather: 62, Mostly Sunny, 11 MPH NNW
Stapler, C. faced 3 batters in the 5th.
Ernestine, A faced 4 batters in the 6th.
VonRosenberg faced 5 batters in the 8th.
