Colonels play at Houston before returning home with top spot in SLC on the line versus Lamar

Nicholls plays its final road game of the season when the Colonels take on the Houston Cougars at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before opening a three-game Southland Conference series at home against Lamar beginning on Friday.

Houston (23-24) is coming off having lost two games at home against Central Florida. A third game between the teams scheduled for last Sunday was canceled because of the weather.

Tuesday’s game may be against a Big 12 opponent, but real focus of the week for the Colonels is their upcoming series against Lamar with first place in the Southland Conference at stake.

Nicholls goes into the three-game series against the Cardinals12-6 in the Southland and 30-17 overall. Lamar is 14-4 in the SLC and 36-10 overall. Lamar plays at Rice on Wednesday before heading to Thibodaux.

The Colonels are coming off a three-game series at Incarnate Word in which Nicholls won two of three games.

The two wins came with the aid of Nick Saltaformaggio and Devin Desandro giving the Colonels long outings out of the bullpen.

In the Colonels’ 7-6 triumph last Saturday, Saltaformaggio picked up the win. He pitched the final 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits and one walk, while striking out two.

Desandro was the winner in Nicholls’ 10-7 win in the finale. He pitched the final 6 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits and one walk, while striking out three.

“It’s your old veterans,” Nicholls coach Mike Silva said. “These guys are so invested in our program. This place means so much to them and their seasons probably hadn’t gone to this point the way they really thought they were or that they are capable of, but it’s the best those two guys have thrown the baseball all year. Really, it was two of the better performances I’ve seen out of the bullpen.

“I’m proud of them. I think they represent everything that we’re trying to be as a program just the fight, the grit, the toughness, and the resilience.”

Nicholls goes into the series with a chance to move into first place after getting off to a 1-5 start in conference play.

“Our goal after we got off to a tough start in conference was to try to get home with an avenue to win this thing and we put ourselves in that position. If we do, we do. If we don’t, it’s not gonna change the way I feel about these kids. To fight the way they fought to go 11-1 and win every road series, I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team that’s done that before,” Silva said.

Lamar is coming off a home series against Northwestern State in which the Cardinals took two of three games from the Demons.

The Cardinals won the opener 8-4 and the finale 7-1. Lamar dropped the middle game 2-0.

Lamar has three players hitting over .300.

River Orsak leads the Cardinals with a .341 average. He is tied for the team lead in home runs with eight and tops the team in runs batted in with 41. Orsak also is eight for eight in stolen bases.

Brayden Evans is batting .319 and is tied with Orsak for the team lead in home runs. He has driven in 32 runs.

Zak Skinner is hitting .316 with six home runs and 39 RBI, while Tanner Wilson is batting .313 with two home runs and 16 runs batted in.

Kanin Dodge, who is hitting .282, leads the team in stolen bases with 12 in 12 attempts.

“They’re very athletic,” Silva said of the Cardinals. “They can all run. They can bunt, they can hit the ball out of the yard. They are dynamic. They’re a really, really talented team and they’re plus defensively, they give you nothing defensively. They remind me a lot of our team last year defensively. They can really go get it in the outfield. They have guys in the corners that can hit-and-run. They can beat you with a bunt, they can steal bags. They can really do it all.”

Brooks Caple was the winner for Lamar in the opening game of the series with Northwestern State. He pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on three hits and one walk, while striking out 10.

Caple is 6-3 on the season with a 2.09 earned run average. He has allowed 18 runs on 47 hits and 20 walks, while striking out 81 in 77 1/3 innings.

Jacob Ellis took the loss in the second game against the Demons. He tossed a shutout through the first five innings before a run in the seventh inning. Ellis pitched six-plus innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks, with nine strikeouts.

Ellis is 7-1 on the season with a 2.94 ERA. Ellis has allowed 23 runs on 45 hits and 20 walks, while striking out 59 in 70 1/3 innings.

Hunter Hesseltine tossed a shutout for six innings in Lamar’s win over the Demons in the series finale. He allowed three hits and one walk, while striking out seven in his six innings of work.

Hesseltine is 6-1 on the season with a 2.67 ERA. He has allowed 18 runs on 59 hits and 11 walks, with 42 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings.

Reliever Andres Perez sports a 0.84 ERA. He has six saves in 17 appearances. Perez has allowed two runs on 13 hits and 13 walks, with 24 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings.

“On the mound, the pitching, just look at the numbers. The pitching staff is incredible and their bullpen’s really good. All three of their starters are as good as anybody we’ve seen all year,” said Silva.

For Nicholls to have a chance to take over first place, Silva said, the Colonels will need a good outing from Friday night starter Jacob Mayers and go from there.

“We’re gonna need other guys to continue to step up. We need Jacob to go out on Friday night and have his best game of the year. I’d love to sugarcoat it and say something other than that, but that’s just the truth. We need him to go out and do it for us on Friday, which he’s more than capable of, and carry that momentum into those last two weekends and in the postseason,” the Nicholls coach said.

That sentiment goes for everyone else as well.

“Our kids, they’re locked in right now, so if we play well, I feel like we’re gonna have an opportunity to win every game. I’m sure (the Cardinals) feel the same way,” Silva said. “I think you throw the numbers out the window this time of year. They’re trying to win a championship. We’re trying to win a championship, too.

“It’s going to be who can play the best on that day, not the body of work. I think this time of year you get caught up in the body of work and it’s just one pitch at a time, one play at a time, one moment at a time, and you can really throw the numbers out the window at this point.”