Nicholls State came to Alex Box Stadium last season, handed the LSU baseball team a 3-1 loss and broke a 10-game losing streak between the two teams.LSU is trying to not let history repeat itself this season. The Tigers (13-2) will host the Colonels (11-4, 2-1) tonight in their final game before Southeastern Conference play. “Nicholls State is going to present a great challenge for us,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “It’s been well-chronicled that they came in here and beat us last year. We didn’t play very well that night, but that’s not to take anything away from Nicholls State — they did. They played very well.”Eight Colonel pitchers combined to limit LSU to four hits in last year’s contest. Nicholls State used a different pitcher each inning beginning in the thrd and kept the Tigers scoreless in that span. “I’m not saying they snuck up on us last year by any means because we take all of our opponents as heavily as we do the SEC teams,” said LSU junior catcher Micah Gibbs. “We know they’re going to come in swinging and pitching well.”This year’s version of the Nicholls State team had won 11 straight games before suffering its fourth loss Sunday. The Colonels lost, 7-3, to Lamar to snap the team’s longest winning streak in 24 years. The Tigers, on the other hand, are fresh off their first two losses of the season. LSU dropped two-of-three games to Kansas last weekend, and Gibbs said the game tonight is reminiscent of a situation from last season. “It reminds me a lot of last year when we played Illinois,” he said. “We lost two out of three on Friday and Sunday of the same weekend, and we had to come back for a midweek game before we started the SEC. We were able to do pretty well with that midweek win and then get a series win against Kentucky.”LSU will start sophomore pitcher Chris Matulis to try to get back on the winning track. Matulis (2-0) has started one game this season and has a 0.90 ERA — the second best on the team behind junior pitcher Anthony Ranaudo. Matulis hasn’t seen action since LSU’s 8-1 win against Pepperdine nearly two weeks ago. Matulis threw more breaking balls in that game than he was accustomed to and developed some stiffness in his forearm as a result, Mainieri said. “I thought he was going to be good enough to go Wednesday in Shreveport,” Mainieri said. “I guess it was kind of fortunate we ended up getting the game canceled because the next day he told me that his forearm was still pretty tight.”Mainieri said he and his staff took the precautionary route and sat Matulis out for the Kansas series. Matulis said he’s glad to be able to go back out on the mound.”It’s tough to be on the sidelines with a little injury and not be able to be out there and help your team,” he said. “My arm feels a lot better, so I should be definitely ready to go tomorrow.”The Colonels will start sophomore Ryan Cooper on the mound. Cooper (2-0) has a 1.06 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 17 innings of work. The Tigers will wear jerseys with green trim, lettering and a shamrock on the right sleeve to honor the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. LSU’s hats and batting helmets will also be green. —————Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]