Nicholls Gets By Sam Houston State, 4-1, to Advance in Southland Tournament
SAN MARCOS, Texas - No. 8 seed Nicholls scored three runs in the third inning to help it to a 4-1 victory over Sam Houston State Thursday. The victory put the Colonels in the driver's seat on their half of the bracket and would need to lose twice to miss an appearance in the championship game of the tournament. Win once more, and they play for their first tournament title since 1998.
Thursday, after Philip Lyons' one-out single and a Bear Comer walk in the third, Chase Jaramillo singled to load the bases. Jeremy Hill followed with a single to center field to drive in the Colonels first two runs. An error on Sam Houston State third baseman Kevin Miller allowed the third run to cross the plate.
Sam Houston scored its lone run in the bottom of the frame. Luke Plucheck doubled to the gap in right-center field and reached second when Nicholls right fielder Scott Moseley misplayed the ball. He scored on a ground out by Kevin Miller.
Nicholls got the run back in the fifth. Comer drew a walk to lead off the inning, stole second and went to third on a ground out to first. He scored on an error by Miller, the Bearkat third baseman, on a grounder by Blake Bergeron.
A night after getting a complete game from Seth Webster in a win over Texas State, Nicholls got another from Patrick Shreve, who allowed one run (unearned) on seven hits in his nine innings of work. He struck out only three, but did not walk a batter in improving to 4-2 on the year. It was his second consecutive complete game as well. Nicholls' pitching has not allowed an earned run in its last 22.1 innings pitched going back to its regular-season finale against McNeese State May 21.
Sam Houston State got a complete game from Matt Shelton as well. He allowed the four runs (three earned) on 11 hits and struck out seven with two walks.
Comer, Jarmaillo, Hill and Jason Dennis each had two hits to aid the Nicholls cause. Hill drove in two of the Colonels four runs. For Sam Houston, Plucheck finished 3-for-4 and Mark Hudson was 2-for-4.
Nicholls' win snapped the longest win streak in tournament history. Sam Houston State had won 13 consecutive games, including four games in each of its title years of 2007, 2008 and 2009. The Bearkats missed last year's tournament, but returned this year to open with a win over Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday.
Sam Houston State slips into the losers' bracket, where it will play Texas State. Win that game Friday at noon and the Bearkats get a rematch with Nicholls, needing two wins to advance to the championship game. Every game of the Southland Conference tournament is being streamed live on SLC NOW, which is free on Southland.org.
Game Eight Quotes
Nicholls Coach Seth Thibodeaux
On the team's performance
"I think we kind of picked up where we left off last night. Pat Shreve just kept grinding it out, grinding it out and kept pounding the zone. We're nothing special but we play very hard and fight."
Nicholls Leftfielder Jeremy Hill
"We've been through a lot of adversity throughout the season and we want to keep playing."
On winning the first two games
"Anything can happen. It's a weird game but if we come out and take care of business we should be fine."
Nicholls pitcher Patrick Shreve
On the defense backing up the pitcher
"When you're pitching up there and get a game going, the outfielders realize that we got to get ourselves going and make plays behind our pitcher."
On the team's current position in the tournament
"We feel pretty confident. I think we got a good chance to keep it going and keep on rolling."
Sam Houston State Coach Mark Johnson
"I thought their pitcher did a really good job. He kept us at bay. Our pitcher did a good job. It was a well pitched ball game by both teams. We had a couple of errors that cost us two runs. We turned three double plays but we just couldn't close it. Their pitcher just did a good job against us."
On what to take from this game into tomorrow
"You've got to put it behind you. The teams that win in the tournament have to put the next game on top and you can't carry this one into tomorrow. We're planning on having a double-header tomorrow."