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Sports

Nelson Hot First Week of the Season

G-Braves slugger hopes to take hot bat on road

Daniel Anthony Nelson, who was originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 out of Los Angeles Pierce College,

has never been one to hit for high average or have a lot of home runs. But the start to this season may well be his first to do both. Nelson is batting .353 in six games with six hits in 17 at bats. He also has two home runs the first week of the season.

His highest average was 2005 when he hit .283 and last season his overall average was .275 with five teams, where he combined for 117 games. Nelson has only struck out once so far in the six games he played.

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He is batting .500 when he is ahead in the count. And with runners on base he is batting .444.

So this year he says he "ran into one" on Wednesday night when he hit his second home run in . "Everybody supports everyone," Nelson said. "That's all you can ask for as a team. Support from your team mate. Even if you do make an error or you make a mistake, they're there to pick you up. It's almost like a family atmosphere."

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The 27-year old native Californian loves Gwinnett and hopes after the last six years in the minors, he could be ready for the next level. "I'm seeing the ball pretty good right now," Nelson said. "They allow me to track pitches a lot so that allows me to see more pitches as the season goes along. Hopefully I can continue to see the ball."

Most players are either fast starters in April and get hot in summer or they start hot and cool off in the summer. Nelson says he doesn't know which he is but hopes he can be a fast starter and keep it up all year long. "I've had rough seasons," he explained. "I've had opportunities just like this one. I ran into one and hopefully I can get pitches like that."

But Nelson also is a fine third baseman. And, like his counterpart at the major league level, he is also a switch-hitter. He made two key plays in the Wednesday game that prevented some runs.

On the first, he made a diving stop of a grounder by Nick Green and got a force play at second base that would have given the Tides a big inning. After two runs were in, Nelson made a bare handed grab of a slow roller and threw out the runner to end the inning and keep it at a 2-0 deficit.

"Everybody played defense pretty well and that's all we can do," Nelson said. "We have to play behind our pitcher. "

Nelson, who was in the Nationals organization twice last season, must have felt like a tennis ball back and forth with two organizations.

And with his career high being only seven home runs in 2006 and six in 2009, he hopes this season he can hit double figures.

"Sometimes you just get lucky and run into one," Nelson said.

But as the old adage goes sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. And right now, Nelson is glad lady luck is on his side. After a 2-4 night in the opener against Charlotte, where he scored his fourth run of the year and lifted that average to .353,

Nelson looks like he is well on his way to a great year for the . Whether it's lucky or not, Nelson is just glad it's on his side.

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