Box Score SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Nicholls State received a strong pitching performance on Friday to defeat University of the Incarnate Word, 5-0 in a Southland Conference baseball matchup at Sullivan Field.

The Colonels' (20-20, 11-6) Taylor Bird entered the contest with the best earned run average in the conference, 1.40, and showed why he is the top man.  He scattered five hits and worked around a pair of errors in six innings and did not allow a run.  He struck out nine Cardinals and improved to 6-2 on the season.  Marc Frazier and Marc Picciola pitched the final three innings to secure the shutout win for the visitors.

The Cardinals (12-23, 5-6) had their chances to score, but were unable to get the key hit.  They had runners on second and third with one out in the second inning only to have Byrd strikeout the next two batters.  In the fifth inning they put together three hits, but each was a single and no one was able to score.  The final chance at a rally came in the eighth inning when they put two runners on base, but a lazy fly ball ended the chance.

Dylan Boss (Boerne/Boerne HS) took the loss for the Cardinals to fall to 2-4 on the season.  He allowed 11 hits and four earned runs while striking out two in 5.1 innings.  Cody Richey (Comfort/Comfort HS) toss 2.2 scoreless innings of relief allowing just one single while Chris Jones (Hallettsville/Hallettsville HS) pitched a scoreless ninth.

The Colonels had five players with two hits apiece.  Tyler Duplantis was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored while David Zorn went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in.    They also swiped four bases in the game.

Jonathan Armijo (Marion/Marion HS) had the lone extra base hit for UIW, a double in the second inning.  The two teams combined for zero walks in the game

The rubber game of the series is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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