Kelton, Nelson Named Players of the Week
3/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama sophomore designated hitter Jon Kelton and junior right-hander Jimmy Nelson were selected as the Alabama baseball team's players of the week, head coach Mitch Gaspard announced Monday afternoon.
Kelton had a huge week as he hit .667 (6-for-9) in four games, scored four runs and tallied four RBI. He reached base 14 times (17 plate appearances) for a .824 on-base mark, including six hits, five walks and three hit by pitch. Kelton had a career-high three hits against Arkansas on March 27.
"I think Jon, as much as anyone on the team, has taken advantage of the opportunity," Gaspard said. "He's been doing exactly what we ask him to do, which is get on base in a lot of different ways. He's had some great at-bats. He's got a lot of walks and hit-by-pitches, and he's been great with execution in his bunting. You just don't see him taking pitches off and that makes for good at-bats."
For the season, Kelton is hitting .425 (17-for-40) in 19 games with 15 runs scored, 13 RBI and five extra base hits. He leads the Tide with a .623 on-base percentage and seven hit by pitch this season.
Nelson held Arkansas to three runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings on March 27. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and a shutout into the seventh before he left with a no decision.
"Jimmy has been probably the class of the league to this point," Gaspard added. "He had a no-hitter through five innings on Saturday against a very good offensive team. I thought when he got in a jam Saturday he showed a lot of composure in getting out of that and the confidence just continues to grow for him."
In six starts, Nelson is 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA. He has worked 35 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs and 28 hits, with 34 strikeouts and 10 walks. He has been involved in two shutouts this season and had a streak of 16 1/3 scoreless innings on the mound from Feb. 27-March 20.
Alabama Head Coach Mitch Gaspard Quotes
On playing two in-state teams midweek:
"I think that anytime you play in-state teams you know that you are going to get their best shot. It's an opportunity for us, as a team who is facing some adversity, to really focus in on what we need to do. This is really the first bit of adversity we've faced now. We've got to do some soul searching, look in the mirror and get back to what we had to do to be successful."
On this week's pitching rotation:
"We're going to pitch the young guys. (Adam) Windsor will start on Tuesday and (Tucker) Hawley on Wednesday. (Trey) Pilkington will see some action as well. We're going to get those young guys out there and try to develop out pitching staff. It's a great opportunity for those guys because we've still got some spots we're trying to fill in the bullpen on the weekends, so it's a good chance for them to get out there and show us something. More importantly, we are trying to get back in a rhythm as a team, on offense, defense, baserunning."
On the offense:
"From a fundamental standpoint, we have been pulling off the ball a little bit. We're really working on hitting the ball back into the middle of the field and driving the ball into the gaps. Our power numbers have really gone down. We knew this wasn't going to be a seventy or eighty homerun team, but we still have some guys in the lineup that provide power numbers for us and we need those guys to do that in clutch situations."
