March 6, 2009
Box Score
Nicholls State scored eight unanswered runs to earn a 9-5 win over Lamar in the Southland Conference opener for both teams at Vincent-Beck Stadium Friday night.
Lamar scored two in the first and, after Nicholls put one on the board in the third, got a home run and an RBI single in the bottom of the third to go ahead 4-1.
That's when the Colonels began their comeback with two in the fourth and three in the fifth to stake a 6-2 lead. Nicholls scored twice in the seventh and added an unearned run in the ninth before Lamar pushed one across in its final at-bat for the 9-5 outcome.
Steven Tucker and Chris Dunkin each had three hits for Lamar (10-2, 0-1 SLC), who finished with 12 hits and left a season-high 13 men on base, including nine in scoring position. Brian Taylor has two hits including his third home run of the season when he led off the third inning with a ball through the wind over the wall in right.
Matt Gore (1-1) suffered the loss after he came on in relief of starter Ricky Testa in the fifth.
Nicholls (5-5, 1-0 SLC) was led by Josh Labiche who went 4-for-5 with four RBI and scored once. Ross Larson (1-0) earned the win after he three 3.1 innings of relief with three strikeouts and yielding four hits. The Colonels had 13 hits and benefitted from three Cardinal errors.
The teams will play the second game of their series on Saturday at 2 p.m., with the finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
