Carter, Sawyer Nelson carry South Salem baseball to 6A playoff win over McNary

For as long as brothers Carter and Sawyer Nelson have been playing baseball together, they have dreamed of games like this.

The pair of South Salem standouts each came through with big-time performances — Sawyer Nelson at the plate, and Carter Nelson on the mound — to carry the Saxons to an 11-1 win over over McNary at Gilmore Field on Wednesday to secure a trip to the OSAA 6A state quarterfinals.

Sawyer Nelson went 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double, and four RBI. Carter Nelson tossed a six-inning complete game and struck out seven as South Salem avenged last year's season-ending loss to the Celtics.

"Nothing has felt right since they beat us last year," Sawyer Nelson said. "The world wasn't spinning the right way. So, it felt great just coming back and getting them this time."

With the win, the No. 2-ranked Saxons improved to 24-3 on the year. They will face No. 26 Mountainside in the quarterfinals after it produced an upset win over Lake Oswego on Monday, and then another over No. 10 McMinnville on Wednesday.

South Salem avenges 2023 season-ending loss to McNary

South Salem's Gavin Price capped off Wednesday's win with a walk-off, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to trigger the 10-run rule and send the dugout into a raucous celebration at home plate. Noah Scharer went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI for the Saxons, and Teagan Scott went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Despite the lopsided final score, it wasn't entirely smooth sledding for South Salem.

McNary ambushed Carter Nelson early and took a first-inning lead when Carter Hawley drove home Jordan Araiza with a single up the middle. Carter Nelson, a University of Oregon commit who was named Central Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year, admitted that he struggled to command his fastball early on.

"I was landing my off-speed pretty consistently, which helped out a lot," Carter Nelson said. "But it was kind of just an outing that I had to grind with everything I had. ... I started to find (my fastball) later in the game."

His younger brother wasted no time gifting him some run support.

Noah Scharer cracked a leadoff single for the Saxons in the bottom of the first, and Sawyer Nelson followed with a two-run home run. One inning later, Scharer and Sawyer Nelson smashed back-to-back homers to give South Salem control of the game for good.

"It's really fun and it's really contagious," Sawyer Nelson, a University of Washington commit, said of the Saxons' offense. "We get one after another. We brought up a couple of guys from JV and the freshman team and that's definitely helped our energy I think. We were kind of flat early in the year and the middle of the year, and I think really raised our energy."

From there, though, McNary starting pitcher Cash Martin settled in and held South Salem's offense relatively quiet. He tossed 4 ⅔ innings, struck out four and helped keep the Celtics in contention long enough to stage a late rally.

In the top of the sixth, still trailing 6-1, McNary loaded the bases with one out and saw its best opportunity of the game to level the score. But Carter Nelson bounced back to strike out back-to-back batters to end the threat.

"When I think about why I play baseball, that's why," Carter Nelson said of the sequence. "It's that feeling you can't get anywhere else, really, in life."

The Saxons never looked back from there. They erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth, with Price delivering the walk-off knock.

"I don't think anybody we've played has the same offensive lineup that they do one through nine," McNary coach Larry Keeker said of South Salem. "I think they probably benefit from playing in this park, but the reality is everybody who comes here gets to play in this park. They have a lineup where just about everybody could probably (hit a home run) at one time or another. They're good hitters; they'd be good hitters in any park."

McNary reaches second round of state playoffs for second season in a row

For McNary, Hawley and Trevor Ratliff each went 2-for-3. Araiza, Jake Allen, Josh Allen and Ben Lane all had base hits.

The Celtics end the year 17-12 and reached the second round of the state playoffs for the second consecutive season.

"We're super proud of our season," Keeker said. "It's a large group of seniors — many of whom have been in the program and played varsity baseball for three or four years. So, there's a lot of emotion involved with those guys. They have great chemistry, they do a lot of stuff together outside of baseball. That makes the season a lot more enjoyable.

"We feel good about the fact that we made it back to the second round. We wish we had played a little better tonight, but the fact of the matter is that South Salem is a really good baseball team. Once they get their offense rolling they're really tough to deal with."

Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: South Salem baseball tops McNary to reach OSAA 6A quarters