The Appleton Xavier baseball team is probably happy it doesn’t have to see Waupaca’s Joe Nelson anymore this season.
Nelson held the Hawks to two runs in the first game of a doubleheader May 4. He also scored the game-winning run in the 3-2 win and had two of the Comets’ eight hits in a 5-3 victory in the second game.
Waupaca 3, Xavier 2
Waupaca took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning, but Xavier answered with two runs in the sixth.
The Comets had runners on second and third in the top of the seventh and Jake Reedy drove in Nelson with a fielder’s choice. That run proved to be the difference, as the Hawks didn’t score in the bottom of the inning.
Beau Ash and Johnny Popham each had two of Waupaca’s seven hits.
Waupaca 5, Xavier 3
Nelson’s two-out double in the sixth came in a three-run sixth inning. Both teams scored two runs in the fourth. Xavier added a run in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead before Waupaca came up with three runs in the bottom half of the frame.
Josh Houtman picked up the win on the mound for the Comets.
Waupaca will play at Hortonville Friday, May 10, before hosting Little Chute for an Eastern Valley Conference doubleheader at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 11.