Nicholls won 3 baseball games this weekend, but they were only able to claim 2 in the standings thanks to a bizarre ruling from the Southland Conference — a ruling that drew the attention of college baseball fans around the country.
The Colonels won 3 games with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this weekend, which would have improved the team’s record to 4-2 in league play.
But on Saturday morning — roughly 12 hours after the Colonels scored a win over the Islanders on Friday night, the Southland Conference ruled that Friday’s game did not count and will be replayed after an appeal by Texas A&M – Corpus Christi based on a missed call in the bottom of the first inning.
The Islanders protested the game based on a play in the bottom of the first inning in which a batter was ruled to have been hit by a pitch and was awarded first base.
After replay review, the umpires ruled that the batter was hit by the pitch, yes, but he swung at the pitch, which caused him to be returned to the plate with a 1-1 count.
Under NCAA Baseball Rules and video review protocol under Appendix E, check swings are not reviewable plays. The conference then deemed that the review exceeds the scope permitted under NCAA rules and the on-field ruling should have been upheld.
Because of that, the Southland Conference upheld the protest from the Islanders and the result of the game was nullified.
Nicholls won the game 11-7 in 9 innings. That result will no longer count and the result and statistics from the game will be voided and nullified.
The teams played games 2 and 3 of the series.
A makeup date for the nullified game will be announced at a later date and the conference announced that the umpire crew will be suspended for their failure to properly apply NCAA replay review procedures.
Fans of college baseball across the country took to social media to express their thoughts on the appeal being won with most siding with the Colonels that this was an overreach and unfair to the Colonels.
Baseball coaches around the area cited that while stats were voided and the game wasn’t counted, the teams still used pitchers and other available pieces, which altered the rest of the 3-game series.
Nicholls also won the game by 4 runs, which also makes it increasingly unlikely that the one call changed the outcome of the game directly — another point that fans of the sport nationwide hammered home as the ruling was announced.
But the Colonels didn’t get rattled and kept their focus, winning the next two games of the series — at least so we think.
Nicholls won Game 2 of the series 8-3, using dominant pitching and timely offense to roar to the win.
Berwick product Dawson Richard was special in the win, working 5 innings on the mound and striking out 7. Richard allowed just 1 hit in the outing and worked fast, pumped strikes and challenged hitters.
Nicholls got runs in the fiat and 1st and 5th and trailed 3-2, but a 5-spot in the 6th inning secured the win and blew the game open.
Tyler Avery and Eli Waters worked 4 innings of relief for Nicholls, slamming the door shut and securing the win, which technically made the Colonels 2-2 in the conference at the time of the game going final.
The ruling of the first game being voided dropped on Saturday morning.
In the final game of the series, Nicholls rolled, dominating the game and scoring a 14-5 win.
Haden Luke got the win on the mound for the Colonels, working 5 innings, allowing just 1 run and striking out 9.
Offensively, the Colonels got big days from second baseman Keegan Giger (3-of-6 with 3 RBI), Matt Melancon (3-of-4 with 2 RBI), Greyson Shafer (3-of-5 with 4 RBI), Jaxon Milan (2-of-5) and Logan Terry (3-of-4 with 3 runs scored).
The Colonels scored in 6 of the 9 innings played in the game and hammered out 18 hits.
Nicholls is officially 3-2 in the Southland.
A makeup date for the voided game will be set in the coming weeks.