Daley Drives in Two, Scores Two Sunday in Southland Series Finale at Nicholls

Sunday, May 12

Thibodaux, La.

3:30 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

22-30, 0

Nicholls

27-25, 0

Stephen F. Austin

Nicholls

Photo by: SFA Athletics

Daley Drives in Two, Scores Two Sunday in Southland Series Finale at Nicholls

5/12/2019 7:46:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Senior notches two of team's three RBI in Thibodaux

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

THIBODAUX, La. - Getting a huge dose of early offense thanks to four Nicholls errors, the SFA baseball team jumped out to a 7-0 lead only to see it slip away after the host Colonels scored 13 unanswered runs in the fifth through eighth innings to claim a 13-7 Southland victory Sunday afternoon at Ray E. Didier Field.

Nicholls pounded out 18 hits to claim the series win and stay in the running for a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament picture. SFA currently sits in seventh place in the league standings with three league games left on its schedule while Nicholls is in eighth place just a game back of the 'Jacks. Lurking one game back of the Colonels is New Orleans who sits in ninth place with the top eight teams making it to Sugar Land, Texas, for the league tournament.

SCORING SUMMARY
B1 | Nick Daley's productive day in Cajun country started as soon as the game did when the senior legged out an infield single. After moving to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a groundout by Manny Vasquez, Daley sprinted home on a passed ball to hand SFA an early 1-0 lead.

T2 | The 'Jacks doubled their lead in the second, beginning the process of doing so by watching Sean Moore line a leadoff single up the middle. After the junior swiped second base, he moved over to third on an infield single off the bat of Josh Campbell. It was the Colonels' first error of the afternoon that brought Moore home as Brady Bell made an errant throw to first in an attempt to get Campbell. That bad throw allowed Moore to come home easily and up the visitors' lead to 2-0.

T4 | Most of the Colonels' laundry list of miscues came in the top of the fourth and helped the 'Jacks break things open. Jake Georgiades reached on the first of three Nicholls errors in the fourth and after Moore got on base due to a fielder's choice, he moved to third after Jarrod Huber reached on a two-base throwing error by Nicholls relief arm Peter Holland. Campbell drew an intentional walk to load the bases for Carson Clowers who delivered an RBI single through the left side of the infield on a 3-2 pitch from Holland to make matters 3-0. Huber hustled home after an error out in left field before Daley shot a two-run triple down the right-field line. Up 6-0, SFA made their lead a 7-0 one when Daley came home on a wild pitch from Parker White on the fourth pitch of a four-pitch walk to Vasquez.

B5 | The Colonels got their comeback bid started in the home half of the fifth by scoring a trio of runs on as many hits off of SFA starter Jacob Stobart. Champ Davison drilled a one-out double down the left-field line and came home on an RBI single by Ethan Valdez to cut the 'Jacks' lead to 7-1. Adam Tarver launched a two-out, two-run homer on the first pitch he saw from Stobart, signaling the end of the junior's outing. Right-hander Austin Roth came on and kept the Colonels' deficit at 7-3 by striking out Alex Paz on five pitches to conclude the frame.

B7 | Nicholls had another big inning in them and used it to knot matters at seven. Senior lefty Tyler Starks gave up a leadoff double to Valdez and a single to Brady Bell before striking out Tarver for the frame's first out. Paz lofted a sacrifice fly to center that cut SFA's lead to 7-4 but the third out was exceedingly difficult to come by for SFA. Austin France pulled the Colonels within two with an RBI single down the right field line, causing SFA to call Jesus Gamez out of the bullpen. Christopher Sandberg and Waylon LeBlanc greeted the senior with consecutive RBI single to tie things up at 7-7 before Gamez got Valdez to fly out with the bases loaded to end the frame.

B8 | Tarver continued his hot day at the plate and put the Colonels ahead for good by mashing his second homer of the day in Nicholls' six-run either. After a leadoff single by Bell, Tarver launched a 3-1 offering from Gamez beyond the fence in left to put the hosts up 9-7. From there, Austin Hearn came on to pitch and gave up an RBI single to LeBlanc before an RBI on a fielder's choice ball by Davison made matters 11-7. Valdez capped the six-run inning with a two-run single to left that accounted for the final score.

AT THE DISH
• Daley and Moore led the 'Jacks' seven-hit attack by each notching two hits. Both also scored a pair of runs while Daley accounted for two of SFA's three RBI on the afternoon.
• Pacing the Colonels' 18-hit assault were Valdez, Bell and LeBlanc who each conjured up three hits. Valdez drove in three and also scored a pair of runs while Bell crossed home plate twice. LeBlanc finished with two RBI while Tarver went 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored.
• Seven Colonels enjoyed multi-hit outings while Valdez reached base a game-high five times.

ON THE HILL
• Getting hit with the loss was Gamez (0-1) who gave up two runs on five hits in one-third of an inning.
• Stobart worked his way through 4 2/3 frames and let in three runs on five hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch. The junior totaled two of SFA's five strikeouts.
• Parker White (4-3) tossed the final 5 2/3 innings for Nicholls in order to secure the victory. White gave up two hits and walked a pair while striking out one in his shutout performance out of the bullpen.

ON DECK
• To close out the regular season, SFA returns to Jaycees Field for a three-game Southland Conference series with New Orleans. The action begins Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the series opener as the 'Jacks seek a berth in the 2019 Southland Conference Tournament for the first time since 2017.

-SFA-