Middle innings sink Nicholls in 8-5 loss for series sweep by Privateers

A day earlier, UNO came up with six runs in the ninth to pull out a win over Nicholls. On Sunday afternoon on Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray Didier Field, the Privateers came up with six runs over two innings in the middle of the game to take an 8-5 win over the Colonels.

The loss for Nicholls meant a three-game sweep of the Colonels by the Privateers to open Southland Conference play.

“When you’re not playing well, and we’re in funk right now, things don’t go your way,” Nicholls coach Mike Silva said. “We’ve got to pitch better. There were some positives. I thought (Gavin) Galy was really good the last two days. I thought (Nico) Saltaformaggio really bounced back and gave us a chance today. We had some better at-bats the last two nights. I have no problem with our effort.

“Last night’s game was on me. The bullpen, we’re trying to figure out who can get it done, who can’t. It wasn’t our kids. After Friday night, our effort has been tremendous, and we need to keep that same type of effort. You get concerned when you lose this many in a row and every time we score, it seems like they score three or four. You get concerned when you start losing this many in a row.”

Nicholls dropped to 0-3 in the Southland and 17-10 overall as the Colonels’ losing streak stretched to seven games. UNO improved to 3-0 in the conference and 13-10 overall.

“We’ve played a pretty tough schedule to this point. We’ve faced a lot of good teams with a lot of good arms. Obviously, Nicholls had some really good arms as well, but I think we prepared ourselves for this conference weekend fairly well,” UNO coach Blake Dean said.

As had happened on several occasions throughout the series, Nicholls used a big inning to grab the lead, only to see the Privateers quickly counter.

Trailing 1-0, Nicholls scored four runs in the third inning.

Singles by Brayden Kuriger and Parker Caddou sandwiched a walk by Narvin Booker to load the bases with no outs.

A two-run double by Edgar Alvarez gave Nicholls a 2-1 lead. Garrett Felix followed with a run-scoring groundout. Aaron Biediger added a single up the middle to drive in Felix to give the Colonels a 4-1 lead.

A two-run double by Issac Williams in the top of the fourth inning made the score 4-3, chasing Nicholls starter Michael Quevedo. Arturo Rodriguez got Victor Castillo to ground out to the first baseman. A double down the line by Mitchell Stanford tied the game.

“Our guys just fought,” said Dean. “We tell our pitchers, give us a breather. Let our offense get going a little bit so we don’t have to press. We have some older guys and some younger guys really stepping up. It just shows their resilience.”

Nicholls quickly regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Jaden Collura hit a leadoff home run for a 5-4 edge, but the Privateers once again answered with a three-run inning in the fifth.

A double by Dylan Mach and a single by Collin Loupe to open the inning again tied the game.

Following a single by Diego Villescas, Dallis Moran replaced Rodriguez. After Moran walked the first batter he faced, he tossed a wild pitch to the backstop. Loupe raced in from third base and was ruled safe at the plate when he slid under the tag of Moran.

Galy replaced Moran. He yielded a sacrifice fly by Sanford to give UNO a 7-5 lead.

“We just can’t get a shutdown inning right now,” Silva said. “We’ll go out and score and then and then we’ll go give up three or four and then we’ll go and score. That just weighs on an offense. Our offense is giving us really good at-bats right now.

“It’s every night. You can feel it. When we are down by two, it feels like we are down by 10 just because we can’t get zeroes up on the board.”

“That’s what I tell these guys, whatever we gotta do, we gotta do. Whenever we have opportunities to score runs, you gotta do it. We still left a few guys on, but we found ways to execute and get things done when we needed to,” said Dean of his Privateers, who produced 36 hits in the series.

UNO added a run in the seventh to extend its lead to 8-5.

Rodriguez (1-2), the second of five pitchers used by Nicholls, took the loss. He allowed three runs on four hits and one walk, while striking out two.

Moran, Galy, and Saltaformaggio combined to allow one run over the final 4 2/3 innings.

Caleb Seroski (3-1), the second of three UNO pitchers, picked up the win. He allowed no runs on one hit in three innings.

Nathan Blasick pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game to pick up his second save of the season.

The Colonels will be back in action when they play at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday through Saturday in the first conference road series of the season for Nicholls.

UNO 12, Nicholls 11: The Colonel bullpen imploded, allowing six runs in the top of the ninth inning as the Privateers rallied back late for the second time in the series.

UNO trailed 9-6 going into the ninth inning before the Privateers came up with a pair of three-run homers by Bryce Calloway and Alexander Saunier to take a 12-9 lead.

Cade Crosby hit a two-run homer for Nicholls in the bottom of the ninth, but the rally fell short as UNO held on to clinch the series.

The Colonels fell behind 3-1 before pulling ahead with four runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Booker led off the inning with a home run to pull Nicholls to within 3-2.

After a Coddou single and a ground out by Alvarez, Felix followed with a hit. Felix advanced to second on the throw and Coddou moved up to third. An RBI-single by Biediger and a run-scoring ground out by Drake Anderson allowed two more runs to score.

Following a base hit by Crosby, a single to center field by Kuriger produced the final run of the inning to give the Colonels a 5-3 lead.

A two-run home run by Alvarez in the fourth inning, his second homer of the series, extended Nicholls’ advantage to 7-3 but the Colonels could not hold onto the lead.

All 12 runs scored by UNO were earned. Nicholls used four pitchers in the ninth inning alone.

Haden Luke (0-1), the fifth of six pitchers used by Nicholls in the game, suffered the loss. He failed to get an out while allowing three runs on two hits and one walk.

Ryan Delorbe (2-1) the third of five pitchers used by UNO gained the win. He allowed one run on four hits and one walk, while striking out four in 2 2/3 innings.

Calloway got the final out of the game to pick up his first save of the season.