No. 2 Northwestern State Eliminates No. 3 Nicholls
Southland Conference
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SUGAR LAND, Texas
– No. 2 Northwestern State advances in the tournament with a 4-3 win over No. 3 Nicholls Thursday morning at Constellation Field.
Nicholls loaded the bases in the bottom of first inning with no outs and senior Josh Oller walked in the first run of the game to put the Colonesl up, 1-0. Oller found his rhythm striking out the next two Nicholls batters before junior Christian Correa popped out to right field.
Nicholls (34-19, 18-11 Southland) put another run on the board in the second inning when junior David Zorn scored on a single from junior Darius Knight for 2-0 lead over Northwestern State (31-22, 20-8 Southland).
In the fifth inning with runners on the corners and one out, senior Garrett Logan single down the rightfield line to score freshman David Fry to put the Demons on the board, 2-1. The Demons put two more runs on the board on with a sacrifice fly from senior Joel Atkinson on a throwing error from the Colonels as Northwestern State took a 3-2 lead. Junior Cort Brinson singled up the middle scoring freshman Kwanstan Adkins from third base forcing Nicholls to implement a pitching change. Right-handed junior Robbie Petty took the mound with two outs relieving starter right-handed senior Ryan Deems.
Nicholls put two runner on the corners with one out, but left Northwestern State’s four runs unanswered through the fifth inning.
With runners in scoring position and one out freshman Joey Morales knocks a ball to right field advancing sophomore Bryan Cobb to third base and scoring junior Justin Smith to make it a 4-3 ball game.
No. 3 Northwestern State advances to take on the loser of No. 6 Central Arkansas and No. 7 Houston Baptist Friday at 9 a.m.
Northwestern State Coach Lane Burroughs
"I think Cort got us off the schneid. That was the first ball we really hit hard the whole tournament. For whatever reason we were scuffling offensively. Then we had the big inning. I think we were pressing offensively."
Northwestern State Brandon Smith
"It's hard to come out of the losers bracket, but after yesterday, when all four top seeds lost, anything can happen. It's the end of the year, and I'm a senior, and I don't want to be done playing."
Nicholls Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux
“As a coach, you take it personally. You feel like you could have done some things differently to prepare the team a little better. I’m frustrated because of the little things. Not scoring when we had a chance to early was on off the things.”