Privateers Baseball Looks to Lock Up Spot in SLC Tournament vs. Nicholls

NEW ORLEANS VS NICHOLLS
THURSDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 19-21 | 6:30, 6:00, 2:00 PM
NEW ORLEANS/THIBODAUX, LA | MAESTRI FIELD/DIDIER FIELD

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The University of New Orleans baseball team (30-21, 14-13 Southland) head into the final weekend looking to lock up a spot in the Southland Tournament. Their opponent will be the Nicholls Colonels (23-30, 11-16) in a three-game series starting Thursday at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
 
The Privateers will host on Thursday and Saturday and are scheduled to travel to Thibodaux on Friday. On Saturday, UNO will honor eight student-athletes for Senior Day festivities prior to the season finale at 2 p.m.
 
"These guys have been through the bumps and bruises of the past few years," said Coach Blake Dean. "They all got their degrees and going out on kind of a high note with 30 wins and hopefully making the conference tournament."
 
UNO enters the weekend with a couple of clinch scenarios in their sights. The first of which would encompass one victory against the Colonels during the course of the weekend combined with one Houston Baptist loss against Sam Houston State. Currently, the Privateers are tied for the fifth seed in the conference tournament which begins on May 25 in Sugar Land, Texas.
 
The Privateers are looking to shake off a 17-3 loss in the mid-week against Louisiana-Lafayette. Kyle Bracey hit his ninth home run of the season to tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning, but the Cajuns responded with a six-run third inning and never looked back. A couple of players were injured during the night as Scott Crabtree hurt his knee prior to the game and Ray Veit injured his ankle during the latter stages of the contest.
 
"Obviously we had some guys who went down and that makes it more difficult," said Dean. "That''s just been the story of the year and we've got to push through it. Somebody else has to step up. Hopefully we can shake off Tuesday and win at least one game and get ourselves in the tournament."
 
The Privateers have turned it around in road games this season from the first half of the year. UNO has won eight of their last 11 games away from Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark. At home, the Privateers have a 19-8 record and are tied for the second most home wins in the conference only behind Southeastern (21).
 
Nicholls heads in off an upset victory over Tulane on Tuesday night. The Colonels pitching staff combined to hold the Green Wave to six hits in a 2-0 victory. It was the first time Nicholls swept a season series over Tulane since 1995. Kyle Knauth and Ethan Valdez had two hits each in the shutout victory.

Seth Thibodeaux is in his sixth season with the Colonels and has registered a total record of 169-161-1. Last season, three of his players (Grant Borne, Stuart Holmes, and Ryan Deemes) were taken in the 2015 MLB Draft. Thibodeaux also guided the Thibodaux school to 34 wins last season, their highest win total in a year since 1992.
 
Justin Sinibaldi will get the ball in the series opener. This season, Sinibaldi leads the conference in complete games with four and paces the team with 76 strikeouts while registering a 3.52 ERA. Sinibaldi has thrown at least six innings in 10 of 13 starts. At the plate, Kyle Reese returned in mid-April after missing nearly a month due to injury. Reese was Southland Newcomer of the Year in 2015 and is hitting .324 this year.
 
Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or click HERE.
 
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