By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– To a surprise to probably no one who has followed South Salem Baseball the last four years that Sawyer Nelson has a tendency to re-write the record books.
He did it in High School, and in 24 games with the Marion Berries, he’s doing much of the same. But instead of the record books because of his bat and putting the ball in play, it’s more of the opposite with the same result:
He’s getting on base sure, but he’s doing so with the Walks.
And he quickly moved up the leaderboard in the category. With 48 such free bases that put him in ratified air for someone who just received his High School diploma about a month ago, if that.
With the second half of the West Coast League season still ahead of him, it’s probably safe to say that Nelson will have another record to his name and probably by a decent margin in the Walks category considering he’s averaging nearly two walks a game with the Berries.
“I feel like I’ve always had a really good eye in the box. Coming out of High School and having a smaller zone now…I’ve really adjusted to that quickly and I felt like I’ve done a good job getting my pitches and not swinging at stuff that I’m not really able to do stuff with,” “So just getting my pitches and swinging at stuff that I can crush has really helped. I’m just out here playing baseball and having fun with my boys.”
In Saturday’s game against the Portland Pickles, the Fourth of July mid-day game, Nelson went 1-for-3 with 2RBI’s, the pair of runs coming off a two-run Home Run that he had in the bottom half of the third inning. The Home Run once again reminded those who have seen Nelson play during his Prep Career that he can still put the ball in play, especially against some quality College Players.
As for playing on the Major Holiday, in front of his home crowd, there’s nothing that can beat it.
“Last night was awesome, we had fireworks after the game, it was sweet. There’s really nothing else I’d be doing right now,” said Nelson, who also was hit-by-pitch in his final At-Bat of the game.
The Berries fell to the Pickles 6-3 on Saturday. Grayson Bonnano struck out four batters pitching in four-and-two-third innings of work.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
