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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/2/2022

Nelson Baseball Is Top Dog at 18u BCS

Riley Sheppard     
Photo: Nelson Baseball School (Perfect Game)
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A championship is one of the sweetest feelings in the world, but doing it with those you consider brothers just puts the cherry on top.

“It feels absolutely amazing, I wouldn't want to do it with any other guys,” Nelson Baseball School two-way player Jackson McElvy said postgame. “They're absolutely like a brotherhood to me. Five of us are going to the same college, so we're going to be with each other for a while and going to keep winning. It's going to be fun.”



Nelson’s road to the 18u BCS National Championship was capped off with a 6-4 victory over Okotok Dawgs 18u Black.

McElvy, a Lagrange College commit, received the start on the mound, dealing 107 pitches and giving up one earned run over his 6 1⁄3 innings.

Okotok jumped ahead early, driving in a run in the opening frame, but Nelson didn’t waste anytime tying things up.

Down two outs in the top of the second, Freddy Hartzell took a four-pitch walk and advanced to third after a single from Corey Berry. Despite being down two strikes, Michael Morrison wasn’t going to let his team leave the inning empty-handed, and roped a single out to left field to bring Hartzell home.

Okotok took a one-run lead once more in the bottom second, but both kept things scoreless over the next few innings to keep the score at 2-1 entering the fifth. McElvy showed off his two-way ability in the top of the inning, lining a single to left field to lead things off, and following a wild pitch, advanced to second as the potential tying run.

Eyeing a full count, Brody Hollingsworth sent a single up the middle to drive him in from second and tie up the game once more at 2-2.

A full-count walk with the bases loaded from Garett Pate brought in the first of four runs for Nelson in the top of the seventh, including a two-out RBI single from Alejandro Rodriguez to drive in Pate.

McElvy continued dealing on the mound into the bottom of the seventh, but was relieved by Pierce Crane after giving up his lone run of the ballgame.

Crane was given the task of controlling the damage with the bases loaded and did exactly that, giving up just one run and picking up the next two outs to close the game.

“It's huge for our program, I mean this is a grind week, playing nine games in five days,” Head Coach Brian Nelson said postgame. “Our guys just came out every single day and just did what they had to do. It's not easy when it gets late in this tournament with the quality teams you play, and the heat and everything but they just did a tremendous job.”