THIBODAUX, La. (February 16, 2024) – They say hope springs eternal on Opening day. For the Sacred Heart University baseball team, the hope is that tomorrow will bring more positives on the second day of the season. In Friday night's season opener, a seven-run bottom of the second spelled trouble on the road at Nicholls State, as the defending Southland Conference champions rolled to a 16-0 victory at Didier Field. Three Nicholls State pitchers combined to author a one-hit shutout and strike out 17.
A seven-run bottom of the second inning gave Nicholls State (1-0) all it would need on Opening Night. Things started innocuously enough, as MaCrae Kendrick singled to right and went first-to-third on a single to center by Drake Anderson. Anderson then stole second in the first-and-third situation, but SHU catcher
Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.) threw the ball away, allowing the opening run to score.
The error would prove to be the least of Sacred Heart's (0-1) problems in the inning, as Basiel Williams followed immediately with an RBI single to center. After a bunt single and two more stolen bases,
Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) struck out Kaden Amundson, but the catcher reached first anyway on a dropped third strike, as the Pioneers could not complete the out. Parker Coddou then made it 4-0 with a two-run single, before Edgar Alvarez provided the keynote, with a three-run home run to right.
Nicholls State added one in the third, two in the fourth and three each in the sixth and seventh innings to win going away, 16-0. Aaron Biediger had a two-run double in the fourth, while Alvarez contributed a two-run double in the seventh and finished the night 2-for-3 with four runs scored and five driven in.
Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.) had the lone hit on the night for Sacred Heart, as he broke up the Nicholls State no-hit bid with a leadoff single to right field to open the top of the ninth. He was erased on a game-ending double play, as Nicholls State pitching faced only 31 batters on the night, just four over the minimum.
Babuschak (0-1) took the ball in the opener for SHU, but needed 51 pitches (39 strikes) to finish just two innings of work. He surrendered seven runs (six earned) on six hits and struck out two.
Right-hander Jacob Mayers got through four scoreless, no-hit innings on 78 pitches (47 strikes) on the other side for Nicholls State. He walked three and struck out seven. Devin Desandro (1-0) won in relief, as he followed with three scoreless, hitless innings of his own and six strikeouts. Dallis Moran struck out four more over the final two innings and surrendered just the McGuire single. Every member of the SHU lineup struck out at least once, and all but Skarad struck out twice.
The two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. (EST) on Saturday at Didier Field and then wrap up the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. (EST).
