By: Nicholls State University Athletics

 

CONWAY, Ark. - The Nicholls State University baseball team closed out its first Southland Conference road series with a 2-1 victory at Central Arkansas Sunday afternoon at Bear Stadium.


Starter Shane Mejia and five Colonels out of the bullpen teamed up to hold Central Arkansas (8-12, 4-2 SLC) to a single run and four hits. On offense, Chris Sandberg went 2-for-3 and played a part in both runs for Nicholls (11-10, 3-3 SLC). He scored on a wild pitch in the third and drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the seventh.


Mejia received a no-decision, lasting 5.1 innings with six strikeouts. He walked four in the start, and his lone hit was a single in the third. Matthew Harrison picked up the save by recording the final five outs for the Colonels.


Nicholls grabbed the 1-0 lead in the third thanks to some errant pitching by UCA. Sandberg led off with a base hit and stole second, then came around to score after two wild pitches by Mark Moyer.


Mejia cruised through the UCA lineup until a leadoff error shook things up in the sixth. Following a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt, Peter Holland came in to pitch for the Colonels and Josh Ragan greeted him with an RBI double to tie the game at 1-1.


But the Colonels answered right back in the seventh. Alec Paz pushed a single to left to start things off and Tre Turner subbed in to pinch run. He stole second with one out and moved to third on a groundout by Champ Davison. Facing a 2-1 count, Sandberg found space through the right side for the eventual game-winning run.


UCA threatened to tie the game up in the eighth. A pair of one-out singles put the go-ahead runner on base before Harrison came in to relieve Zach Autin. He got Ragan to fly out to right, but Jay Anderson moved to third on the play. With the tying run 90 feet away, Harrison struck out pinch-hitter Hunter Hicks looking on just three pitches.


Harrison walked the leadoff batter to start the ninth but retired the next three for the first save of his career as a Colonel.


For Nicholls, Dane Simon and Austin France each doubled while Brady Bell added a single. Tyler Theriot picked up the win after recording an out in the sixth. Brandon Andrews chipped in with 1.1 innings of hitless relief.

 

ON DECK

Nicholls will head to the Baton Rouge to face LSU this Wednesday (March 20) at 6:30 p.m. The game will stream live on SECN+.