Nicholls State gave Alabama all it wanted on the first night of the NCAA Tuscaloosa regional, but the Colonels came up short Friday.
Jim Jarvis singled in Will Hamiter from second base in the bottom of the ninth, and Alabama slipped past Nicholls 4-3 at Sewell-Thomas Field in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Nicholls (34-23) scored single runs in the second, sixth and seventh innings. Each time, Alabama (41-19) came back and tied the game. Jarvis’ RBI single gave the Crimson Tide its first lead of the night.
Nicholls’ loss means the Colonels will play at 2 p.m. Saturday in an elimination game against Boston College. Troy defeated Boston College 11-10 and will play Alabama Saturday night.
The Colonels got off to a strong start behind the pitching of Jacob Mayers, the Southland Conference freshman of the year. The right-hander from St. Amant held Alabama without a hit for four innings, and exited with two outs in the sixth and the score tied 2-2.
In the top of the seventh, Wes Toups’ leadoff homer to right-center gave Nicholls a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Alabama answered with Mac Guscette’s solo shot off of Colonels reliever Gavin Galy.
The score remained tied until the Alabama ninth. Hamiter started the at-bat with a walk prompting Nicholls to bring in pitcher Cade Evans. Guscette sacrificed Hamiter to second and Caden Rose struck out before Jarvis bounced a single between short and third to drive in the winning run.