Another busy week for Colonels begins with home game against Tulane

Don’t expect the approach of the Nicholls baseball team to be much different second time around against Tulane when the teams meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Thibodaux.

Tulane handed Nicholls one of its two losses on the year when the Green Wave edged the Colonels 3-2 earlier in the season in New Orleans.

In the earlier encounter, a rally attempt by Nicholls in the top of the eighth inning came up a run short

Nicholls was trailing 3-1 in the top of the eighth when Colonel first baseman Edgar Alvarez greeted new Tulane pitcher Trey Cehajic with a leadoff double to right field.

With one out, Alvarez advanced to third on a ground out to first base by Garrett Felix. A throwing error by Tulane third baseman Michael Lombardi on a ball hit by Drake Anderson, pulled Brady Marget, the Green Wave first baseman off the bag.

Anderson eluded a tag attempt by Marget and was safe, allowing Alvarez to score an unearned run. Basiel Williams followed with a single, but Cehajic got Narvin Booker to fly out to center field to end the threat.

Cehajic retired the Colonels in order in the ninth inning.

“I don’t really approach any week differently,” Nicholls coach Mike Silva said. “I know people think that because you circle certain games. You think they’re bigger games, but if you ask the people that are on the program, we’re playing a regional game in Alabama, I’m no different than we’re in the conference championship game McNeese. I’m the same person every day. I want our kids to be the same every day.”

Tulane is 7-4 on the season and coming off a three-game sweep at home against Yale. The Green Wave has won four in a row after losing three straight at home to UC-Irvine.

The game with Nicholls will be the first away from home for the Green Wave this season.

Nicholls is 11-2 and coming off of three consecutive wins over Southern University. The Colonels won games in Thibodaux on Friday and Saturday via run-run. Nicholls defeated the Jaguars 9-5 on Sunday in a game played in Baton Rouge.

In the Sunday outing, Nicholls catcher Jaden Collura had three hits, including a grand slam, and drove in four runs in the 9-5 win.

Trailing 8-0, the Jaguars exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning after going scoreless in the previous 20 innings in the series.

Nicholls will host a double-header Wednesday against Southeastern Baptist College beginning at 3 p.m.

Southeastern Baptist competes in the National Christian College Athletic Association. The Chargers are 5-7 on the season. Southeastern Baptist is coming off a double-header split last Saturday against Rust College.

The Colonels will host Grambling in a three-game series beginning Friday. Games on Friday and Saturday are slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. with Sunday’s encounter scheduled for 1 p.m.

Grambling, coming off a split with Florida A&M last Saturday in the HBCU Garr and Lucas Classic, is 2-8 on the season. The Tigers play at Tulane on Wednesday.

“It’s a busy week. We have a lot of games a lot of days early in the season. I do that on purpose,” Silva said. “I think our team’s challenged. I think we get taxed physically and then we have to grow and depend on other people, so you really get exposed. I’m looking for us to continue to grow.

“I don’t foresee anything changing. We’re gonna go out and we expect to win every time we play. It doesn’t matter if it’s Tulane or somebody else. We show up to the ballpark and we expect to win.”