Thompson Valley pitcher Adrian Nava (11) throws a strike against Windsor for the Eagles' summer team, Crystal Landscape. The Eagles are developing a core of players who will be sophomores next spring season. (
Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
The situation was perfectly suited for Jeff Nellor's plan.
Thompson Valley's summer baseball coach has an eye to the future, but here he could afford to dabble in the now just a bit.
With the opening game of a double header against Windsor on Thursday tied in the final inning, and the winning run at third base with less than two outs, he called his batter over to the coach's box. Nellor's instructions were to bunt.
Not because it was necessarily what he would call for, but because in a year's time, it would be.
"We need them to be ready for (varsity coach) Jay (Denning) and the varsity team. That's the rule," Nellor says. "These guys know they have to develop and find where they're going to play next year."
With Denning and hitting coach Bruce Kelly coaching a Blue Chip team this summer (which possesses most of the Eagles' returning varsity players), Nellor has a group of underclassmen to work with on the Crystal Landscape Legion B summer team.
So instead of treating Trey Kreikemeier as a cleanup hitter, a role he played all spring on the freshmen squad, Nellor asked the young player to do the job he would undoubtedly be expected to play next spring.
Failed bunt attempts back-to-back put Kreikemeier in a two-strike hole, meaning back to business as usual. The third pitch was one the sophomore-to-be could handle and he roped it to left field for the game-winning RBI, a 9-7 walk-off victory for Crystal Landscape (which completed the double-header sweep 8-5 in Game 2).
Not exactly how Nellor wanted it, but that's the whole point of summer ball. Next time, Kreikemeier will know what to expect. Of the situation and of himself.
"I was nervous. I'm still shaking right now," Kreikemeier admits later. "I tried to bunt again, which was supposed to be a slap bunt, but my head didn't really think through the signs.
"The last sign was to make contact, be a hero and I did."
There are very few familiar names from the Thompson Valley squad that made a run to its first ever state Final Four this past spring on the summer roster. Nellor knows them all best, serving as their freshmen team coach in the spring.
He knows their strengths and weaknesses, which helps groom them into the varsity players of Thompson Valley's future. Aiding him in that endeavor are players like Tyler Ewy-Self and Joaquin Champlin.
Both served as bench players for the Eagles during the varsity's spring season after having gone through the similar maturation process last summer. They're leaders on this roster, and it showed Thursday.
Ewy-Self went 2-for-4 with a bases-clearing double, powering his four-RBI performance.
Thompson Valley's Tyler Ewy-Self tries to apply a tag to a Windsor player Thursday at Constantz Field. (
Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
"I think (summer ball) is really huge because you're coaching the younger kids and teaching them how it's gonna be when they get (to varsity) next year," he said. "They watch me and learn to keep the intensity up, throughout ABs, to go up there and work their butts off. That's how varsity is."
Nellor also asks his youthful bunch to embrace new positions in order to further their advancement to the top level of the program, where they could be asked to fill a number of spots depending on need.
A versatile player is a valuable one.
So maybe Kreikemeier is a cleanup hitter more than a bunter for now. That will all change by next spring.
"The expectation is to execute and win the game. A guy like Trey, he' rarely called upon to bunt all year. But I called on him because that's probably what varsity would've done," Nellor said. "I don't think along the lines of winning this game. I think long term and what varsity needs in the future. It's important these guys know their role."
Cris Tiller: 970-669-5401, tillerc@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/cristiller