Basic’s Nelson in right place at right time

A pitching change in the sixth inning on Monday forced Basic baseball coach Scott Baker to scramble his infield, and he ended up moving shortstop Ryne Nelson to third base.

As it turned out, Nelson ended up in the perfect spot.

Nelson turned a sharp grounder with the bases loaded into an inning-ending double play to keep the game tied, and the Wolves scored five runs in bottom of the sixth en route to a 6-3 home win over Green Valley.

“We were very fortunate,” Baker said. “We made a defensive change there and put Nelson at third, which is our strongest arm. And we were fortunate that he was able to turn it with a strong throw to first base.”

With the game tied 1-1, second-ranked Green Valley (10-2, 0-1 Southeast League) got a double from Jarod Penniman and a one-out walk to chase Basic starter Tanner Roundy. Third baseman Josh McLean came on to pitch, necessitating the musical chairs on the infield. After Blake Inouye walked to load the bases, Jimmy Montiel hit a sharp grounder to Nelson at third.

He bobbled the ball, but recovered to step on third for the force and fired a strike to first to beat Montiel to end the inning.

The eighth-ranked Wolves (8-3, 1-0) then plated five runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.

“Whenever you get out of a big inning like that, you’re talking about a total change of momentum,” Baker said. “That was a big momentum swing there, and everything from our point of view was let’s score some runs here and get a shut down and win.”

Gehrig Timmons hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to break the tie. The Wolves scored a run on a passed ball and two more on a two-run double by Roger Riley. Nelson then hit a fly ball that right fielder Gavin Morley never saw, and it dropped for an RBI single and a 6-1 Basic lead.

“It’s contagious,” Baker said of the hitting. “That inning it got contagious. Fortunately, we put ourselves in a situation where we kept the game intact defensively to give us a chance to do that.”

The Gators made it interesting in the seventh, scoring on a fielder’s choice by Eric Samson and an RBI single by Penniman to bring the tying run to the plate with one out. But McLean was able to get Jarrett Perns and cleanup hitter Morley to each fly out to center to end the game.

Nelson was 3-for-4 with two doubles, and he tied the game in the fifth with an RBI double to right-center field. The Gators had taken the lead in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Ty Burger, who was 2-for-3.

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.