For a kid who has been on the go seemingly since birth, Geneva’s Nelson Wendell having to sit out with an injury for five months was like parking a Porsche in the garage.
After breaking the navicular bone in his foot in a Week 4 football game at Wheaton Warrenville South, Wendell missed the rest of the football season and the entire basketball season.
The junior shortstop finally got back to action once baseball began this spring.
“I feel like I’m getting there, but it was pretty rough, sitting there for five months doing nothing,” Wendell said. “I had like ants in my pants the whole time.”
Wendell is starting to shake out those ants, and he showed Wednesday that he’s nearly all the way there in a 10-3 DuKane Conference loss to, you guessed it, Wheaton Warrenville South.
Getting his legs back, Wendell went 4-for-4 with a triple, two runs and a steal for the Vikings (15-3, 4-2). Michigan State recruit Mason Bruesch and Aidan Hall each had two hits.
Jacob Conover hit a leadoff homer and picked up the pitching win for the Tigers (9-6-1, 2-4).
It wasn’t just inactivity that Wendell had to endure. As his coach and father Brad Wendell knows, Nathan doesn’t just play sports. He lives and breathes it.
“I never fault him for giving everything he’s got because he does,” Brad Wendell said. “Everything he does, he goes hard. He’s always done that.
“Even since he was this big, he would run through a wall if he could find a way to win. He’s always been that way.”
Nelson Wendell knows that stems from his upbringing.
“I think it comes from my mom and dad,” he said. “They’re both really fierce competitors. I hate to lose and I hate doing bad. It comes from them.”
Wendell is happy to be back, but after five months of relative inactivity, it took some time to get back to normal. Performances like he had Wednesday will go a long way toward getting there.
He led off the fourth and sixth innings with singles and later scored. He cracked a two-out triple in the bottom of the seventh to keep the Vikings alive.
“He certainly hurt us offensively,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach John Scherrman said. “Every big opportunity, he came through.”
After a rough showing in Tuesday’s win over the Tigers, Wendell was happy to bounce back.
“It felt really nice,” he said. “I worked on being confident pregame because (Tuesday) I wasn’t confident, swinging at everything. I think my approach really changed (Wednesday).”
That’s all part of returning from such a major injury.
“It was a struggle for him,” Brad Wendell said. “I’m really proud of how he worked until he got better. He did a lot of physical therapy.
“He got bigger and stronger in the weight room with what he could do. He gained pounds. He looks mature.”
Nelson Wendell was philosophical when looking back at his time off. While nobody wants to lose that much time playing sports, gaining a new perspective can be a positive as well.
“Everything happens for a reason,” he said. “God has a plan for everyone. It really taught me how it feels when people have to sit on the bench. I think that showed me what it means to be part of a team.”
Despite Wednesday’s uncharacteristic performance, expectations remain high for the Vikings, and Wendell is starting to round into form.
That could be yet another reason for optimism for the rest of this season.
“The sky is the limit for us,” he said. “We didn’t play clean (Wednesday). But if we play clean, we have all the talent in the world.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
