Colonels get off to slow start in 10-6 home loss to McNeese to close out regular season

The Nicholls baseball team fell short in its quest to repeat as Southland Conference regular season champions with their 10-6 loss to McNeese State on Saturday afternoon on Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray Didier Field.

Nicholls finished Southland play at 16-8, one game behind 17-7 Lamar. The Colonels will go into the conference tournament which begins Wednesday in Hammond as the No. 2 seed.

The Colonels fell behind early 3-0 and trailed 10-3 before attempting a late rally.

The slow start, Nicholls coach Mike Silva said, was not caused by the team coming off flat emotionally. The Colonels had been in a de facto playoff mode for the last couple of series in the season. An emotion-packed win on Friday put Nicholls in a position to play for a share of the conference title on Saturday.

“They were ramped up and ready to go, probably trying and do a little bit too much, yes, but flat, no. They were excited to go,” Silva said. “We needed a better start. We didn’t get one today. That’s just the reality of it. When you’re playing these games of this magnitude, about the third or fourth inning, the nerves start to kind of slow down and you start to play, and I thought you saw that. We plugged the bases multiple times, but we couldn’t get the bit hit when we needed it.”

“I wouldn’t say we came out flat. I would say definitely the first couple innings we came out maybe a little bit timid, a little stiff. That’s the part of playing a game. You play a game like this, these are the fun games. But I’m confident down the stretch that we will learn from it and move on,” said designated hitter MaCrae Kendrick, echoing his coach’s sentiments.

Kendrick, one of 17 seniors playing in their final game at home in a Nicholls uniform, had a day to remember offensively. He was on base five times with two hits and three walks.

“Each time, I just want to focus on what the team needed at that moment. I’m confident go up there and just grind out some at-bats my bats. I’m just trying to get on base and get team sparked,” said Kendrick.

In a series with numerous changes in start times because of the constant threat of bad weather, McNeese’s Peyton LeJeune seemed to rain down on the Colonels’ parade for the final time when he hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning to make it 10-3.

Despite the odds, the Colonels didn’t give up in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Jaden Collura led off the inning with a home run to right field.

Parker Coddou followed with a double and Edgar Alvarez walked, with Max Swenson going to the mound for McNeese in place of Brock Barthelemy.

After a wild pitch by Swenson advanced the runners, Gerardo Vallarreal reached base on fielding error by Swenson, allowing Coddou to score to make it 10-5.

Garrett Felix walked to load the bases, still with no outs in the inning.

The Cowboys went to their third pitcher of the inning when J.T. Moeller replaced Swenson.

Basiel Williams reached on a fielder’s choice when hit into a force play to get Alvarez out at home plate.

With two outs, Kendrick walked to force in a run to make it 10-6.

“We were just going batter by batter, pitch by pitch, just trying to play up the bases and see what happens,” Kendrick said of the final inning.

Narvin Booker junior grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

“It’s typical. They never quit,” Silva said of the Colonels’ ninth-inning rally attempt. “It’s important to these guys. They are crushed right now. Like I told them, this is the regular season, it’s over, now we move on to the tournament. I’d rather be in this situation every year whether you get it done or not, than not be in this situation. Since I’ve been here, we’ve been in this situation the last few weeks of the season and we’re really proud of that. Now we move on to the tournament.”

Nicholls had their chances, loading the bases on several occasions in the contest. The Colonels stranded 11 runners in the game.

Colonel starter Sam Hill (3-2) suffered the loss. The first of seven pitchers used in the game, he allowed three runs on three hits, hit two batters, while striking out three in 1 2/3 innings.

Michael Quevedo, the normal Game 3 starter for Nicholls, was unavailable, sitting out a four-game suspension after an incident in which he was ejected in the Lamar series a week earlier.

“It’s the flip of a coin,” Silva said. “We’ve been inconsistent with so many guys when we started them. (Dylan) Farley, when he starts, he’s either really good or really bad. Sam out of bullpen, it’s kind of tough for him. He started really well against Houston a couple of weeks ago and thought he had some confidence going into the game. He had three strikeouts early in the game and then two quick outs, and then all of a sudden, it’s two free passes and they are off and running.”

Cameron LeJeune (7-2), the second pitcher used by the Cowboys picked up the win. He allowed no runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out six in five innings.

Hit batsmen and walks haunted the Colonels in the early going against McNeese.

After Hill got two quick outs to open the bottom of the second inning, he hit Grant Mangrum and Peyton LeJeune with pitches.

A single by Easton Dowell produced the first run of the game. Simon Larranaga followed with a two-run double to give the Cowboys a 3-0 lead.

McNeese added a run in the third inning on a run-scoring single up the middle by Mangrum.

The Colonels got their first hit and run of the game in the bottom of the third inning. A one-out single by Kaden Amundson after a leadoff walk put a pair of runners on base, setting up a run-scoring ground out by Coddou.

Nico Saltaformaggio opened the fourth inning on the mound for Nicholls. He walked two of the first three hitters he faced before striking out Conner Westenburg for the second out of the inning. Elliott Hebert followed with a two-run single to extend the McNeese to 6-1.

It was the Colonels’ turn to take advantage of walks and hit batsmen in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Caleb Strmiska, the Cowboys’ 6-foot-9 pitcher, walked Gerardo Villarreal and hit both Garrett Felix and Basiel Williams with pitches to load the bases.

Cameron LeJeune entered the game in place of Strmiska and gave up a sacrifice fly to Drake Anderson to produce the first run of the inning for the Colonels.

After LeJeune walked McCrae Kendrick to load the bases once again, Narvin Booker Jr. hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to make it 6-3.

“We needed to put up zeros. That’s why we went to Salt. It’s 6-3 and we went to the guy that’s our stopper. Everybody uses a closer, they think about the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. I thought the game was happening right there,” Silva explained. “We emptied the tank. Look, we wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for that young man and just didn’t have it today. It didn’t go his way. He made some good pitches, got some tough breaks, and that’s just part of it.”

The Cowboys were able to more than just take advantage of hit batsmen and walks, pounding out five hits to add three more runs in the fifth inning.

Back-to-back singles by Braden Duhon and Mangrum to open the fifth produced the first run of the inning.

With one out, a double down the third base line by Easton Dowell drove in Mangrum for the second run of the inning. After Dowell stole third base, a single up the middle by Simon Larranaga scored Dowell to make it 9-3.

The Cowboys went out to pound out 15 hits in the game.

Nicholls may have fallen short in its quest to garner another regular-season SLC title, but the Colonels still have the conference tournament to look forward to.

“Obviously, it’s not what we wanted in the long end, but I’m so confident we’re going to the tournament and just gonna play for each other. For a lot of us, it’s our last ride, so just empty it all on the field,” Kendrick said.