When lanky right-hander, Eric Nelson, took the mound for the Madera Coyotes, little did opposing hitters see the fastball coming right at them. Most of the time, all they saw were arms and legs.
Nelson will take his pitching prowess to Pepperdine University in the fall to pitch for the Waves.
“I’m going to talk to them to see what they want me to do,” Nelson said. “When people see me throw for the first time, a jaw drop reaction is what I get. I have the height (6-4) for it, but not the weight and muscle mass. When I use my fast twitch muscle and long arms to throw that hard with that much violence, it’s shocking to people. People wonder how I’m doing that.”
Nelson said the decision to pick Pepperdine over UC Riverside, UC San Francisco and Fresno State was an easy one, considering on where he will be playing and going to school.
“The whole campus overlooks the ocean. It’s pretty nice,” he said. “The coaches made it feel like home. They made it feel like it was going to be a place more than baseball. It was going to be a learning opportunity. It was going to be a place to grow, not only as a player, but as a man and a person of society. They made it more personable.”
Another benefit for Nelson is he will be going to Pepperdine after graduating from Madera with a 4.18 grade point average, and was one of the school’s valedictorians.
“I didn’t know I was going to be a valedictorian,” he said. “My parents always held me to a high standard. Maintaining a 4.0 GPA was a must in my family. It helped me grow as a person, as well.”
He plans to major in business administration because there are a lot of job opportunities in that field, but his ultimate goal is to play in the Majors.
“You can dream as much as you want,” Nelson said. “Realistically, I believe I have a chance. I have to have a back-up plan, and that’s why I’m going to Pepperdine to study. “
Nelson unofficially closed out his Coyote playing career at the City/County All-Star baseball game where he had a typical Nelson inning. He struck out two, but he walked two, and got out of the inning without allowing a run.
“I try to overpower people too much and getting people on base,” he said. “I overthrow a little bit. That’s one thing they are going to have to work with me is to get me to be more mellow. I get pretty excited out there. You’re on an island out there. It’s you against the whole team.”
In trying to find a school for this fall, Nelson sent out emails, and played with a travel ball team where he made a lot of his contact. However, Pepperdine’s locale and distance from home put them over the edge.
“The location mattered a little bit,” he said. “It was cool to see how beautiful the campus was. The fact that it’s still close to home, I’ll be able to come home and see my family. They can come see me play, too. They haven’t missed a game. I feel like I can count on one hand how many times they missed a game.”
Nelson is proud of his high school career, but most proud that he stuck with it, even when it got tough.
“I’m proud of myself for sticking with it, thick or thin,” he said. “I had a lot of moments where most people would have given up. My family kept pushing me to be better and strive for better things. I had some rough patches when I was younger when I wasn’t very good, at all. I was the worst player on the team. I found coaches that believed in me that helped me get to where I am today.
“I felt like I was going to be the star that people came to watch. I turned out to be the guy that had to keep grinding to show people I belonged. In the end, it worked out. It panned out in the long run they way I thought. When I was young, it was not the way I thought. The player I am now are from the lessons I learned when I was younger. It taught me super important lessons. I had to accept losing and failing.”
Nelson came on stronger after his junior season after he put on 15 pounds of muscle.
“I’m very undersized in the weight category. I am very light for my height. That’s going to have to change moving forward. I’m going to have to put on more muscle pounds,” he said.
Nelson committed to Pepperdine last August 10, and officially signed his National Letter of Intent on November 10.
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a Div. I athlete, some day,” he said. “There were times I could believe it because of the spot I was in. I just kept grinding and show everyone I could do it to prove people wrong that I could do it.
“I was on the later sign of getting my offers. As the portal and the college transferring is going on, it’s getting harder for high school athletes to get into a Div. I program right out of high school. It’s super cool knowing I have a plan. I am set up for the next couple of years to be stable and not have to worry about what comes up next.”
Nelson also had the road map to success drawn out by older sister Katelyn, who graduated in 2020. She was a cheerleader and gymnast, and even cheered for Fresno State.
“My sister is amazing,” Eric said. “She set the standard extremely high for me. That was one thing that really pushed me. I was always trying to keep up with her achievements. I feel like at the point I’m at, I’m finally catching up to her. I’m even. It’s cool to say, for my parents, that their kids are Div. I athletes. She still might have the grades over me.”
Now, Nelson turns his attention towards Pepperdine. But he also knows that he will leave his parents as empty nesters for about eight months out of the year.
“They are excited for me, but sad that I will be gone. It’s going to be a different experience for them,” Nelson said. “They were part of the process to going to Pepperdine. It was a group decision about what I wanted to do. I wanted to know what their opinions were. They are going to be the ones that will help guide me through college. They said it was my decision, but they had their thoughts. When I picked Pepperdine, they agreed, and said it was the best option for me.”