He didn’t pitch a no-hitter, but that may have been the best case scenario for Blue Sox hurler Nels Nelson, who picked up the win in a 9-2 decision over the Austin Greyhounds in Marcusen Park Wednesday.
Nelson, who struck out nine, pitched six hitless innings before Matt Cano hit a lead-off single into the right field wall in the seventh inning to break it up. With his team leading 5-0, Nelson retired the next three hitters in order and called it a night.
“It would’ve hurt my arm more if I had (kept the no-hitter going),” Nelson said. “We’ve got playoffs coming up, I didn’t want to throw too much and it was a blessing in disguise I guess.”The Blue Sox (17-8 overall, 5-0 Section 2B) took control of the game in the second inning when Andy Swank knocked in two runs with a single to left field and Aaron Port grounded out to score a run to make it 4-0.
Hounds pitcher Dave Meyer lasted just two innings in his second outing of the summer as he walked three and allowed two hits — both to Swank.
“We knew that Dave isn’t in midseason form yet,” Blue Sox manager Josh Kunze said. “Part of the goal was to take a lot of pitches, go deep in the count and get him out of there. Our guys did a great job and Andy Swank was spraying the ball over the place.”
While the Blue Sox already clinched the top seed in Section 2B and will play a home playoff game in Marcusen Park Sunday night, the Hounds (12-13 overall, 2-4 Section 2B) were playing for the No. 2 seed in Section 2B. Now their playoff seeding is undetermined as Waseca still has a game left.
Nelson had no problem focusing for what was a meaningless game for his squad.

“Whenever you play these guys it’s a totally different brand of baseball and you kind of go off the script,” he said. “It’s hard not to get pumped up for it, it’s been a great rivalry.”
The Hounds finished with just three hits and they left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth when Brady Banse struck out back-to-back hitters.
“Nels pitched a good game, but we weren’t really sharp tonight,” Hounds manager John Frein said. “We looked a lot better on Saturday.”
The Blue Sox were able to get a lot of their bench players in the game as well as Craig Selk and Dan Swift both took the night off. Alan May had a single and scored two runs and Steve Serratore drew three walks.
“We’re very deep and we’ve got a lot of guys on the bench that are very anxious to get a shot,” Kunze said. “Those guys are chomping at the bit for a chance and it wasn’t a meaningless game for (the Greyhounds). We knew we were going to get their best shot right away and we took that shot.”
Blue Sox    1 3 1  0 0 0  0 4 0  —  9  7  2
Hounds    0 0 0  0 0 0  0 2 0  —  2  3  5
Blue Sox pitching: Nels Nelson (W), 7 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 9 K; Brady Banse, 2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 HBP
Blue Sox hitting: Andy Swank, 3-for-4, double, 2 RBIs, R; Aaron Port, 0-for-4, RBI; Casey Toops, 0-for-3, BB; Mark Harber, 0-for-3, R, 2 BBs; Kyle Young, 0-for-4, 2 R, BB; Darin Wagner, 1-for-5, RBI; Marty Dick, 1-for-2, R, BB; Steve Serratore, 0-for-1, 3 BBs; Brandon Rector, 0-for-2, R; Alan May, 1-for-2, 2 R; Joe Kroc, 0-for-2, RBI, BB; Brady Klingfus, 0-for-1, BB; Chris May, 0-for-1, R, BB; Tyler Nelson, 0-for-2; Josh Kunze, 1-for-1, RBI; Joe Huffman, 0-for-1
Hounds pitching: Dave Meyer (L), 2 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 K; Pete Korfage, 4 IP, 3 H, 6 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 K; Adam Hemann, 2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 0 ER, 2 K; Alex Kasak, 1 IP, 0 R
Hounds hitting: Nick Rohne, 0-for-4; Mitch Mullenbach, 1-for-4; Matt Cano, 1-for-2, BB; Matt Raso, 0-for-4; Bryan Toov, 0-for-3; John Kirby, 0-for-4; John Frein, 0-for-3, R; Nick Bowe, 1-for-3, RBI, R; Joey Swatfager, 0-for-2, BB; Mike Tindal, HBP, RBI; Quinn Yocom, 0-for-1; Gabe Kasak, 0-for-1; Bryant Olsen, 0-for-1