Nelson Warriors Give Home Fans Exciting Opening Night
| BOT 11 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Westcliff | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
|
Nelson University Arizona Warriors Athletics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 2 |
Opening Day was an exiting one for the Nelson Warriors baseball squad, taking the Westcliff Warriors to 11-inning before falling 7-5 in front of a chilly but raucous and excited crowd at Apollo High School in Glendale.
Westcliff jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning, scoring on two triples and two wild pitches off of Nelson starter Nathan Simmons, before a third score came across following a Hector Navarro error. However, after what appeared to be nothing more than just opening night nerves, Simmons and squad settled down and not only held Westcliff scoreless for the next five innings, but loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd, before finally breaking through with a run in the 6th when Zach Walsh walked with two outs and Justin Stockton tripled in the run.
Westcliff responded in the two in the top of the 7th with two runs on a two-out single from Micah Wallette. But the Valley's Warriors refused to give in, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, with the game-tying run scored on a Kaysen Kajiwara bases loaded line out scored Sanuel Hess from third, evening the evening at 5 apiece.
Both teams put two runners on in the 9th to no avail, and Nelson got a two out Kajiwara walk in the bottom of the 10th, failing to get him across. Westcliff opened the top of the 11th inning with a single and a walk, both moving into scoring position on an Eddie Aceves wild pitch, eventually both coming around to score, for a two-run lead, that in the bottom of the inning the Nelson club was unable to match.
Stockton led Nelson with 2 hits and 2 RBI, while walking once and scoring a run. After his rough first inning, Simmons settled down and allowed only 4 hits while walking 2 in four innings, striking out a game-high 6 Westcliff Warriors.
The Nelson men open with an eight-game home stand, with further games on January 25, 28, 31, and a double-header on February 1, finishing with a match against Benedictine of Mesa on the 3rd.
Do not forget to follow Nelson Athletics on X at @NelsonWarriors and Instagram at @nelsonwarriors.athletics.