Colonels open baseball season with three-game home set against Sacred Heart

The defending Southland Conference champion and NCAA regional participant Nicholls faces a challenging schedule this season.

Along with the SLC slate, the Colonels face a non-conference schedule that includes the likes of LSU, Tulane, Houston, Louisiana-Lafayette, and a three-game series at Nebraska.

It all begins Friday when the Colonels host Sacred Heart in a three-game series and runs through Sunday at on Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray Didier Field. Game action begins at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with the first pitch Sunday scheduled for noon.

“Sacred Heart’s good,” third-year Nicholls coach Mike Silva said. “It’s not like the old days where you bring a team down from the North and having a chance to be ready to go. They have the facilities up there now for those guys to be prepared. I’m from the Northeast. They have tradition and pride.”

The Pioneers were 28-30 a year ago under first-year coach Pat Egan and reached the Northeast Conference postseason tournament. It was the best record for Sacred Heart since going 30-38 in 2016.

Sacred Heart lost 17 players off of last year’s team and features 16 incoming freshmen and transfers in 2024.

The biggest loss is Sam Mongelli. A 10th-round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Mongelli led Sacred Heart in virtually all major offensive categories a year ago. He hit .402, had 20 of the team’s 57 home runs, drove in 54 runs, scored 81 runs, and stole 22 bases in 25 attempts.

Despite the losses, the Patriots return most of their pitching staff from a year ago.

Jack Babuschak, who went 6-4 a year ago with a 3.65 earned runs average and 70 strikeouts in 81 innings, is back for the Pioneers.

So too are Michael Boyian and Charlie Costello.

Boyian went 3-1 last season with a 3.96 ERA. Costello was 6-2 a year ago with a 4.35 ERA.

“I think they’ve got pitchers with a tremendous amount of pitch-ability and depth. They have some guys in their lineup that can really hurt you,” Silva said.

The first road game for Nicholls comes only two days after the Sacred Heart series concludes when the Colonels travel to New Orleans on Tuesday to take on Tulane.

Among other early road games, the Colonels will face Southern Mississippi on February 27 in Biloxi.

“It will be a sold-out crowd over there at the Double-A stadium. They’re an Omaha-caliber team, one of the best teams in college baseball over the last decade,” said Silva.

The following day, the Colonels face South Alabama in Mobile.

“We want to finish with a high point and then we leave the next night and go straight to Mobile. We’re playing against South Alabama, and if you look at the history of their program and the type of players they have, we’re going to be battle tested and challenged early,” Silva said.

The Colonels open Southland play with a three-game home series against the University of New Orleans on March 22-24.

“We played them for the conference championship last year. They’re really good,” Silva said. “Blake Dean and his staff do a tremendous job. The challenge is going to be real and hopefully our guys are up for the task.”

All the teams in the conference, Silva said, seem to be improving.

“Our conference was really good last year,” said Silva. “I think the teams are all well-coached. Every game seems like it’s a postseason atmosphere, a postseason game. I think it’s extremely challenging and difficult. Last year was separated by a game and I’d love that to not be the case, but I think it’s going to be the case again this year. I think everybody is a little bit better. I think we’re a little bit better, too.”

The Southland Conference tournament is scheduled for May 22-25 in Hammond.