Nicholson, a freshman pitcher, went 2-0 with a 0.87 earned run average and nine strikeouts in two games of the Iowa Conference Tournament to lead Coe to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1978. He threw a 9-inning complete game against Conference tri-Champion and Tournament #3-seed Wartburg in the opener. He struck out seven batters, allowed seven hits, two walks and two runs (one earned) in the 4-2 victory. In what ended up as the Championship game, Nicholson pitched 1.1 innings of perfect relief to earn the victory in the Kohawks’ 10-8, 11 inning win over #1-seed Simpson. He also had is first career plate appearance, successfully executing a sacrifice bunt that moved the eventual winning run into scoring position while reaching on a throwing error and later scoring an insurance run.
