May 7, 2008

THIBODAUX, La. - Nicholls will be participating in the Southland Conference Tournament for the third consecutive season, and will open up against No. 7 seed Sam Houston State on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

The game can be heard on 640 AM KTIB locally with Joe Fakier providing all the play-by-play action with pre-game starting at 1:15 p.m.

The tournament this season was extended from a six team format to an eight team layout, and was changed to a single elimination playoff as opposed to a two-loss scenario in years past.

The Colonels (28-27, 15-14 SLC) locked up the sixth seed after sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend. Nicholls finished tied with McNeese State (22-35, 15-14) in league play, but the Cowgirls series win over the Colonels gave them the fifth spot. McNeese State opens up with No. 8 Southeastern La. (27-24, 14-15) on Thursday.

Heading into the tournament, senior Kat Harrell leads the league in batting average (.400), on-base percentage (.468), in hits (72), total bases (103) and in runs scored (40). Also atop the league in homeruns is senior Amy Thibodeaux with 12 long balls during the regular season.

The only other Colonel batting over the .300 mark besides Harrell entering the tournament is junior Danielle Clayton with a .301 mark at the plate. Clayton ranks second on the team in hits (46) while being tied for second in homeruns (3) and third in RBIs (23).

Leading the Colonels in the circle is sophomore Lacey Gros with an 8-3 record and a team best 2.55 ERA and 92 strikeouts. Following Gros is sophomore Audrey Wood with a 7-6 record and 2.78 ERA

No. 7 Sam Houston State (30-30, 15-15) enters their contest with Nicholls having lost five of their last six. The Bearkats lost their last series of the season against No. 3 UTSA (25-24, 20-10) and prior to that were swept by No. 1 Texas State (35-17, 25-5). However, Sam Houston State did sweep Nicholls in this season's series in Huntsville, Texas.

The Bearkats are led by Hailey Wiginton at the plate with a .389 average, .435 on-base percentage and a .522 slugging percentage. SHSU also features dual threat Morgan Mikulin who leads the squad with a 1.98 ERA and 15 wins in the circle while also finishing the regular season with a team second best .317 batting average.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

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