Feb. 25
February 25, 2009Donna White
February 27, 2009Walk around Nicholls State’s Ray E. Didier Field and you’ll almost immediately notice a facelift.
It’s not just the scoreboard, outfield wall, bleachers, dugouts or backstop, but the team itself underwent a complete overhaul heading into opening day against Chicago State.
With 16 fresh faces suiting up for his team this year, head coach Chip Durham was committed to making Colonel baseball competitive in Southland Conference play once again.
And if this weekend’s opening series against the Cougars is any indication of how the season will go, the Colonels appear to be in good shape.
During the three games, Nicholls outscored their opponents from the North by a total of 46-5 (18-3 Sunday, 13-2 Saturday and 15-0 on Friday).
After seeing his team play solid defense, and be aggressive at the plate, Durham believes he’s finally assembled the team he envisioned.
“It was a three-year process,” Durham explained. “This is the year that you look to get to. It gave us time to increase the facilities and get the scholarships back to recruit the typical Division I-type player. I’m not saying we hadn’t had Division I type players, but we didn’t have a lot of them.”
He’s done it by bringing in 12 juniors – all Junior College transfers – and four high school freshmen to hopefully help turn the program around.
Senior outfielder Josh Swenson and junior second baseman Keith Kulbeth are the only two position players returning to the Colonels’ starting lineup this season.
Kulbeth started 2009 off right, blasting two home runs, and adding another in-the-park homerun.
However, Durham said this year’s team is built around the defense, mainly the play of their infield, which committed only two errors the entire weekend.
JuCo transfer Tyler Minto, redshirt freshman Blake Bergeron, and Kevin Persick, are all going to see time at first base.
JuCo transfer Zach Tisdale is at second with Justin Labiche and Beau Faulk seeing playing time at third and Steven Gauthe at shortstop
Juniors Kevin Schlegel and Jason Dennis will handle the catching duties for the Colonels this season.
Swenson enters his senior campaign as the lone returner for the Colonels in the outfield. Junior Chris Murrill, Eric Douglas, Adam Miley, Drew Snider and Scott Moseley, as well as freshman Jacob Knight of E.D. White, who will all see the field this year for the Colonels, join him.
On the mound for the Colonels, senior pitcher Lance Dupois is expected to be the vocal leader.
The fifth-year senior impressed in his opening-day start, allowing only two hits.
Dupois is joined by fellow starters Jake Parrish (senior), Seth Webster (sophomore), Minto and junior Jarrett Dunnam, who will likely serve as midweek starters for the Colonels.
Both Webster and Dunnam earned victories against the Cougars.
Dale Dickerson serves as the Colonels’ closer this spring. After a successful summer ball stint, the coach believes Dickerson has matured both physically and mentally and has a chance to be one of the best closers in the conference.
With the quick 3-0 start, Durham believes his team has the mindset to build on the early success.
“We were waiting for this all season long,” Durham said. “I think we finally have the team to stay competitive in conference.”
