Early Sunset in Aggieland

It was another day at the park. He worked the seventh inning. With two outs, he may have been squeezed in issuing a walk, but he responded with a three-pitch strikeout to get out of a jam in the Aggies’ 6-2 win over Rice.

It seemed like another night of doing his job in a Tuesday midweek game. Less than a week later, right-hander Jake Nelson realized that game on March 10 was his Senior Day.

“It was certainly never how you imagine the last game,” Nelson said. “I would have taken the time that night to soak everything in one last time.”

The day following the outing seemed normal. The Maroon & White had their usual Wednesday practice on a beautiful College Station afternoon. But heading into the clubhouse after the day’s workout, Nelson, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania before transferring to Texas A&M, received word that the Ivy League had canceled its baseball season.

“All I could think about was how unprecedented that decision was and how sorry I was for my former teammates and friends.” Nelson said. “At the time, I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have your senior season ripped away. My friends from Penn were on the field preparing to play a game in Florida when the decision was handed down.”

As is well documented, things moved quickly in the next few days. Thursday morning the Aggies were sitting in their locker room waiting for the bus to take them to the airport for an SEC showdown at Auburn. They never got on that bus.

“I could see the writing on the wall after the Auburn series was postponed,” Nelson said. “I was just so disappointed. It was certainly one of the hardest days I have had. I always thought it would end for me wearing my uniform on the field somewhere.”

The next month was a land of confusion across the collegiate landscape, but things were all clear for Nelson. He was turning professional in something other than sports. He had a job lined up working in the real estate sector at Regions Bank. The New Hampshire native had an internship in the summer of 2019. He was so amazing at his work, the company offered him a job upon completion of his master’s degree.

“It doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “I expect him to be a very successful businessman because he is such a great person and great communicator along with being a very hard worker. He is going to be a great husband and father and make an impact in the community.”

When the NCAA granted seniors another year of eligibility, there was never wavering on Nelson’s part. He was headed to Dallas and the start of the next part of his life.

“I was committed to my future,” Nelson said. “I was set to finish out my Master of Real Estate degree program at the end of the spring and I could not find the merit in starting a second master’s while taking on more debt. As much as I adore the game of baseball, and will miss it dearly, at some point you have to grow up and make hard choices such as that.”

While there is a wealth of baseball talent in New England, it’s not considered a hotbed on the recruiting trail. Nelson’s prep career earned him looks from some ACC schools, an SEC school and several of the Ivies. But he most likely would have gone unnoticed had it not been for an impulsive trip to the bump.

“I always dreamed of playing in college, but I didn’t find out I was good enough to play Division I until just before my senior year of high school,” Nelson said. “I was a catcher the first three years of my high school career. I went to a camp at Connecticut the weekend before the start of my senior year and jumped on the mound on a whim after the camp was over. I threw one pitch and the coaches were impressed by the velocity and had me pitch during a scrimmage the next day. I did well and all of a sudden I started getting Division I offers and my career took off.”

He enjoyed a fantastic career at Penn. As a freshman in 2016, he worked 13 games out of the bullpen, posting a 1-1 record with an Ivy League-best five saves, a 3.12 ERA and nine strikeouts in 17.1 innings. The next season, he was 1-2 with three saves, a 2.25 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 16.0 innings. Nelson’s star was rising and the Detroit Tigers noticed, picking him in the 33rd round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

A shoulder injury as a junior not only kept him off the mound in 2018, but it also changed the course of his life.

“I was able to graduate a semester early from Penn, because I was ahead on my degree program,” Nelson said. “I had an extra year of eligibility because of the shoulder surgery. The Ivy League doesn’t allow players to play during graduate school, so I had to find somewhere else to play if I was going to graduate early.”

Nelson put the feelers out and his profile fit with what the Aggies’ need. The Maroon & White were entering the 2019 campaign with a young pitching staff and were looking for a crafty veteran.

“We were looking for an older arm and Coach (Justin) Seely ran across Jake’s name,” Childress said. “He did some checking on him. They seemed to hit it off and we were able to bring him in on a visit along with his family. We were just really impressed with his maturity and personality.”

After his crosschecking, it didn’t take much to sell Coach Seely.

“He was a grown up,” Seely said. “When I talked to him, he was clear with his message and he had high academic aspirations. He also wanted to pitch in a big-time college baseball atmosphere which made me think he believes in himself. He was everything we were looking for to add a strong veteran presence on the mound and in the locker room.”

Growing up in New Hampshire, Nelson never thought he’d be living in Texas, let alone playing baseball there.

“No chance I ever thought I would live in Texas,” Nelson said. “I didn’t know anyone that had gone to A&M, let alone play there. I’m super glad I had the opportunity to experience such an amazing culture in College Station. I couldn’t be more blessed to have had that opportunity.

Nelson’s life wasn’t totally devoid of a Texas A&M connection.

“The only connection I had was that my grandfather always wore an A&M hat for absolutely no reason other than he liked the hat,” Nelson laughed.

The Aggies’ roster is filled with the top high school recruits in the state and emerging standouts who find their strides in junior college. That made Nelson, a graduate transfer from an Ivy League school, stand out.

“Jake was very easy to coach and he had great aptitude,” Childress said. “His maturity, personality and leadership were three things that were invaluable to us as a program. He always had time for the younger guys whether it be pitchers or position players. A lot of the guys nicknamed him ‘Dad’ because of his age and I was always impressed with him as a person, every bit as much as him as a pitcher.”

Nelson’s first trip to the mound at Blue Bell Park will always be a moment he cherishes. In an outing against Fordham on a chilly season-opening weekend in 2019, the brawny northpaw worked a scoreless frame.

“I don’t know that I took the time to appreciate it while I was playing because I was so focused on what I was doing,” Nelson said. “But I certainly took a moment when I came off the mound to appreciate everything. Everything had finally become real for me. I was playing in Texas for a national powerhouse. I had finally earned my way to the top of college baseball.”

Working back from an injury prior to the 2019 season, Nelson was returning to form. He appeared in 10 games out of the bullpen for the Maroon & White, registering a 0.87 ERA and striking out 12 in his 10.1 innings of work.

“He was coming off a shoulder surgery, so he was still not 100 percent healthy when he arrived in January,” Childress said. “As it started to warm up in the middle part of the season, his velocity started to increase and he started to become more dependable in the bigger spots of the games. He was really big for us down the stretch.”

The work he put in on the mound his first year in Aggieland brought Nelson a lot of pride. He was representing New England and holding his own.

“I felt as though I was responsible for proving to everyone in the SEC that New England has great players, too,” Nelson said. “I knew I would have to earn every bit of respect I got on the field in Texas, so that maybe the next generation of SEC players will have some more kids from New England and they’ll have the opportunities I’ve been so blessed to have.”

He remained healthy during the offseason and was on track to be a bigger piece of the bullpen in 2020. He pitched in six games the first month of 2020, posting a 1.43 ERA and seven strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Those would be his final senior season stats.

“Jake was going to be a huge part of our bullpen as we were moving into conference play,” Childress said. “He was very dependable and a very good game manager. There was no situation that we could have put him in that he couldn’t handle.”

Although his Aggie career was cut short, Nelson has fond memories to tuck away as he tackles the real estate world.

“I will miss the beautiful early spring practices when the weather is just right for baseball,” Nelson said. “Those come a lot earlier and more often than they do in the Northeast, so I really appreciated those days. I will miss being in the locker room and on the field with my friends. There’s nothing quite like that time spent together.”

Deprived of a Senior Day, Nelson wanted send a special message to Aggieland.

“Being an Aggie is being part of a massive family. Whenever I wear Texas A&M gear there will, without a doubt, be someone who comes and talks to me about their time in College Station and asks me about my experience there. There isn’t a nicer or more welcoming group in the world. I couldn’t have chosen a better place to spend the last year and a half. I would like to thank all the coaches, teammates, fellow students and professors for making my time in College Station so special. I also want to thank my parents for letting me go so far away to attend graduate school, and, even though I was so far away, making the trek to come and watch many of our games.”