Colonel baseball team heads into final weekend with SLC title hopes still in play

The Nicholls baseball team may not have caught Lamar for first place in the Southland Conference but with the Colonels taking two of three games at home from the Cardinals last weekend, they go into their final series of the year still in the hunt for the league title.

“I didn’t think it would be a sweep either way,” Nicholls coach Mike Silva said of the Lamar series. “We had an opportunity to on Saturday, but each game was really good, really close. I think the games the rest of the way whether it’s this weekend or the (Southland Conference) tournament will be the same way.”

In the series between Nicholls and Lamar, each of the first two games went to extra innings.

Nicholls won the first game 5-4 when Drake Anderson hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Lamar edged the Colonels 9-7 on a two-run homer by Jack Schell in the 10th inning.

The Colonels won the series with a 3-0 win in the finale. Reliever Nico Saltaformaggio pitched six innings of shutout ball.

The results left Nicholls in second place in the SLC at 14-7. Lamar is 15-6.

Nicholls will go into the final three-game series at home against McNeese State, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The second game of the series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, with the finale set for 1 p.m. Saturday.

The three-game set begins a day earlier than conference series during the season to give the teams an extra day to prepare for the conference tournament, which runs May 22-25.

The Colonels have no midweek game this week.

“We usually don’t plan for this,” Silva said of scheduling a midweek game the final week of the regular season. “The guys are finishing up school and finals and graduation and all that stuff, and then we (start) play on Thursday, not Friday.

“I think it’s good for us to get rested up because you have a short week this week and you have a short week when the tournament starts as well. If you play midweek, then you have two short weeks. I think that puts the guys in kind of a tough spot.”

McNeese is 10-11 in the Southland and 28-23 overall. The Cowboys have won seven of their last nine league games.

“They’re good. They’re always good,” Silva said. “They weren’t playing good early. They’re playing good now. They won nine of the last 10 games overall (10 of 11 after a 7-6 win over Texas State on Tuesday). It’s gonna be a challenge.

“They have championship pedigree. Their coach (Justin Hill) is the most accomplished coach in our league. He’s won more than anybody has that’s in our league coaching right now. It’s going to be a challenge. We will have to earn it. It’ll be fun but we got to take it one pitch at a time, one game at a time.”

The Cowboys are coming off a three-game series in which McNeese took two of three games against Houston Christian in Lake Charles.

McNeese won the opener 6-2 in its series against Houston Christian and the second game 13-6 before dropping the finale 9-7.

The Cowboys, with a team batting average of .275, have three hitters above .300.

Cooper Hext leads the way with a .312 average. He is tied for the team lead with six home runs and has driven in 30. He leads the team with 19 stolen bases in 20 attempts.

Braden Duhon is hitting .309 and has 30 RBI.

Conner Westenburg is hitting .307 with six home runs and 29 runs batted in. He has stolen 18 bases in 21 attempts.

Chase Keeton and Simon Larranaga are also tied for the team lead with six home runs each.

The Cowboys have stolen 63 bases in 81 attempts.

“I think that the numbers are distorted,” said Silva. “If you go back and look at what they’ve done in the last 10 games, I think that gives you more of a sample size. We’ll see this weekend.

“In the last 10 games, offensively, they’ve been potent, and they’ve thrown the ball at a fairly high level on the mound with a lot of strikeouts and not a lot of walks, and they play really good defense. I think that’s the team we are going to see.”

McNeese’s top pitcher is Cameron LeJeune, who pitched twice in the HCU series.

In McNeese’s 6-2 win in the opener, he worked the ninth inning, allowing no runs, hits, or walks, while striking out two. In the 9-7 loss in the finale, LeJeune pitched the final innings, allowing one run on three hits, while striking out four.

LeJeune is used in a variety of ways. He has appeared in 19 games, including seven starts. LeJeune has a 6-2 record with a 4.11 earned run average. He has allowed 28 runs on 70 hits and 19 walks, while striking out 45 in 61 1/3 innings. He has also five saves.

In conference play, LeJeune is 4-0 and sports a 4.14 ERA. He has appeared in 10 SLC games, including four starts. In those outings, he has allowed 17 runs on 46 hits and nine walks, with 21 strikeouts in 37 innings.

“He’s done everything for them,” Silva said of LeJeune. “He’s kind of like our Saltaformaggio. Salt could start for us, but he covers us up in so many areas, so we just leave him in the bullpen. He can do it all. He’s started for them. He’s closed for them. He’s been in relief for them. He’s long relief. He’s done it all.

“I don’t know how they will use him this weekend, but I’m sure if they have a lead late, he’ll be going into the game.”

Another top pitcher for McNeese is Ty Abraham.

Abraham was the second of three pitchers used by McNeese in the Cowboys’ loss in the finale with HCU. He worked four innings, allowing four runs on six hits, with seven strikeouts.

For the season, Abraham is 3-3 with a 6.75 ERA. He has allowed 36 runs on 54 hits and 24 walks, with 49 strikeouts in 48 innings.

“Abraham is an older, experienced player,” said Silva. “He’s won a lot since he’s been there. He’s pitched at high-leverage moments. They’re really good.

“Besides that, they piece it together with different pieces and there’s some other good arms in there. Those are the two that definitely stand out.”

While Nicholls sits one game behind Lamar entering the final three games of the season, the Colonels also are one game up on the University of New Orleans. Lamar closes the season at UNO.

The outcome of all of those games will decide the conference title and tournament seedings. With eight teams taking part in the tournament, there are no opening-round byes for teams that finish first or second in the league.

“If we tied with somebody, the one or two seed, head-to-head, that really doesn’t really matter, except for seeding,” explained Silva. “If you tie with somebody, you are co-champions. As far as winning the league outright, if you tie with someone, it’s co-champions. I want a share of their lead, but I want the whole thing.

“If we take care of business this weekend, we’re in that position. With the way we started at 1-5 at home in conference, the goal was to get home the last weekend with a chance, and we did that. It will be extremely difficult, but it will be a lot of fun. We will need a postseason-type atmosphere again to help lead us to good things.”