NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers head into the final weekend of the regular season with a spot secured in next week's Southland Conference Tournament but a higher goal as they face off against the Nicholls Colonels.
The Southland Conference series starts with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Thursday followe by Friday's matchup at 6:30 p.m. and the finale at 2 p.m. Saturday. All three games will air on NASH ICON 106.1 FM and on ESPN+.
STARTERS
THURSDAY: UNO-LHP BRANDON MITCHELL VS. NICH-RHP DEVIN DESANDRO
FRIDAY: UNO-TBA VS. NICH-RHP JACOB MAYERS
SATURDAY: TBA VS. TBA
SENIOR DAY
The Privateers will have Senior Day festivities prior to Saturday's game. The following will be honored before the game:
Matthew Maldonado,
Jose Cabrera,
Noah Bailey,
Nolan Daniel,
Tod Gauthe,
Jeissy De la Cruz,
Max Dias,
Jacob Mead,
Tyler Bischke,
Jorge Tejeda,
Brandon Mitchell and
Kasten Furr.
SERIES PREVIEW
New Orleans is coming off a series win against UIW. The Privateers took the series finale 15-5 last Sunday. In the series, the Privateers hit 11 home runs which put their season total to 77. That ranks 47
th in the nation.
The Privateers ended their regular season road campaign on a much stronger note. Since starting the season 2-9 on the road, the Privateers have won 11 of their last 17 games away from Maestri Field. That includes weekend series wins at Little Rock and UIW.
To escape the play in, the Privateers need a minimum of two wins and one Lamar loss. In that scenario, the Privateers would be no worse than a 5-seed in next week's tournament.
There is also a path to the 1-seed that involves a lot of dominos falling. In one of the scenarios, a three-way tie between Nicholls, UIW and New Orleans would favor the Privateers. Also if New Orleans sweeps the Colonels, Northwestern State loses at least two games at Souteastern and no other teams sweep their conference series, the Privateers would be tied with just Nicholls and would earn the head-to-head tiebreak.
Brandon Mitchell and
Mitchell Sanford both won Southland weekly awards. Mitchell won Pitcher of the Week after throwing his fourth complete game at UIW. Sanford was 7-for-13 with a home run and seven RBI as part of a 3-1 week for the Privateers.
The southpaw hurler Mitchell is currently at 20 career wins which ranks him tied for ninth in program history with Brad Stuart. A win on Thursday would move to a tie for eighth with Dave Froelich. A win would also make Mitchell the first Privateer pitcher with 10 wins in a season since Bryan Cryer had 12 in 2008.
Nicholls is eyeing their first Southland regular season title in school history. The Colonels last won the postseason title in 1998.
Mike Silva in his second year has the Colonels first in the Southland and 43
rd in the nation in doubles at 110. The Colonels have also thrown five shutouts, 12
th most in the country.
Mayers and Parker Coddou rank in the top ten in the nation in ERA and triples respectively. Xane Washington leads the conference and is 79
th in the nation in on-base percentage.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@PrivateersBSB on Twitter,
@PrivateersBSB on Instagram, like
Privateers Baseball on Facebook and subscribe to the
UNOPrivateers YouTube channel.
