THOMASVILLE — The Thomas University Night Hawks baseball team split with Louisiana State University-Shreveport Tuesday at Varnedoe Field, winning a nine-inning thriller 7-6 in game one and falling 7-4 in game two.

The Night Hawks battled back from a 6-2 deficit in the first game to tie the score 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Chris Cole grand slam over the right field fence.

Cole had the count in his favor at 3-1 and took a fastball down the middle to make the count 3-2. LSU pitcher Levi Montoya came back with a fastball in the same location on the next pitch, and Cole made him pay.

“He worked the count to 3-1 and I gave him the take sign,” Thomas University head coach Mike Lee said. “(On 3-2) he got a good pitch and he produced. It barely got out, but all that matters was that it got out.”

The big fifth inning started when Gerardo Santiago singled to center field and stole second base. Juan Carlos Gomez lined out to right field for the first out. Danny Powers followed with another single to center field, scoring Santiago.

The momentum looked like it ended when David Gomillion grounded to short. The throw to second was dropped but the umpires ruled the second baseman had possession of the ball.

LSU looked as if it got out of the inning when Trey Mills grounded to third, but the third baseman’s throw was off-line and Mills was safe. Josue Gonzalez followed with a walk to load the bases, setting the stage for Cole’s grand slam.

Night Hawks closer Josh Clements shut down the Pilots’ offense before Thomas University finally broke through in the ninth inning when Gonzalez ended the game with an RBI single scoring Powers from second base for the winning run.

Clements, who usually doesn’t pitch more than two innings, threw 3 2/3 innings in relief, allowing two hits, picking up the victory.

“Clements did a great job,” Lee said. “I was prepared to stay with him until his arm fell off.”

The Night Hawks started game two by scoring four runs in the third inning for an early 4-2 lead.

Santiago sparked the inning when he delivered with a two-run single to center field.

The lead didn’t last long as wild pitches and errors caught up with the Nigh Hawks. The Night Hawks committed three errors and threw seven wild pitches, three of them for runs and two others set up runs for the Pilots.

“We can’t afford to make those mistakes. We have to make them earn it,” Lee said. “We gave them way too much, we’ve got to get better at not losing games.”

The Pilots got the got the tying and go ahead run in the fifth inning when Wesley Gray reached on an error and Kyle Mace and Patrick Jolley both walked. Jermaine Chabot followed with a blast back to Clements. Clements knocked the ball down but wasn’t able to throw out Gray at home and the score was tied at 4-4. Jordie Bias followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Pilots a 5-4 lead.

The Pilots were able to score two more runs in the sixth for a 7-4 lead.

The Night Hawks attempted to come back in the bottom of the seventh. They sent the tying run to the plate.

Gonzalez hit a one out double to the right-center field wall to start the inning. Cole struck out for the second out of the inning, but Santiago drew a walk sending Dell Hoard to the plate. Hoard represented the tying run but he grounded to short to end the game.