Mike Barba's two out single in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a late Nicholls State rally and gave the Colonels a 4-3 win over Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns at Ray E. Didier Field in Thibodaux Tuesday night.

Barba's single on the first pitch thrown by reliever Matt Hicks was just out of the reach of a diving Blake Trahan and scored Sage Stevens, who was hit by a pitch with two out in the ninth.  David Zorn then singled off Cajuns reliever Cord Cockrell (3-2), setting the stage for Barba.

Louisiana (24-12) got a run in the eighth inning on Trahan's sacrifice fly to score Caleb Adams and give the Cajuns a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.  But Leo Vargan blooped a double to center with one out and two batters later, Keith Cormier turned on a Cockrell inside offering for a two run homer to the the score.

The Cajuns opened the scoring off Colonels' starter Grant Borne with two runs in the second inning on RBI singles by Dex Kjerstad and Ryan Leonards to take an early 2-0 lead.  Nicholls (18-20) got a run in the fifth off Cajuns' starter Kody Smith on a two out Vargas single to cut the lead in half.

Marc Picciola (1-2) pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to get the win.

Kjerstad led the Cajuns with three hits, giving him eight hits in the Cajuns' last two games.  Leonards rbi single in the third inning increased his hitting streak to 13 games.  Vargas had three hits to pace the Colonels.

The Cajuns head to Natchitoches Wednesday to complete a suspended game against Northwestern State.  The Cajuns held a 3-0 lead last Wednesday in the fourth inning when rain forced the suspension.

 

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