BEREA -- It was only a matter of time before the Nealon brothers would come into their own as members of Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team.
Chris and Scott Nealon, fraternal twins from Avon Lake High School, have been two of the reasons the Yellow Jackets are contending in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
Scott has started 19 of 25 games he's played in and is batting .301 with 14 runs scored, 19 runs batted in, seven doubles and a triple. He is slugging at a .410 pace and has committed only four errors at second base.
Chris has split time between pitching and the field. He has made five appearances on the mound, all in relief. Only four of the seven runs against him are earned, and he is one of only a few B-W pitchers who has not yielded a home run.
Chris also has not committed an error at pitcher or in the outfield. He is batting .353 with a double and a triple.
"It allowed us to make contributions to the team starting with our spring trip to Florida."
"The middle of the infield and third base also opened up," Scott Nealon said. "A lot of us, including myself, wanted to take advantage of those opportunities."
An athletic team often benefits with siblings. "Each of us is competitive with the other, which rubs off on the rest of the team," Scott said.
"Plus, when one of us has a bad game, we can come home and let out steam. We help pick each other up, providing a little more motivation."
"Scott has had the better season so far, so that takes some of the pressure off me," Chris said. "It keeps the family name intact. If he is doing well, then I feel I don't have to do as much."
The brothers maintain a busy schedule at B-W, taking classes full-time, playing baseball and working 12 hours per week as safety/security patrol and escort officers.
Their upbringing explains their affinity for the necessary discipline. Their father, Patrick Nealon, is the police chief in Avon Lake.
"Ever since we were kids, he put pressure on us to do the right thing all the time," Scott said. "Our motto growing up was to do the right thing.' We knew we couldn't make our family look bad because he represents the whole city."
Their father keeps a good eye on them even while they are at B-W. "He has been coming to all our games even when we weren't playing a lot because he loves baseball," Chris said. "He made the trip to Florida with us even though he didn't know if we were going to play or not because of how much he likes the game."
Scott also must give time to spring football since he became the Yellow Jackets' punter last fall. "Getting back to football has helped me keep in shape because I constantly remind myself that maybe I should be out running whenever I am relaxing too much," he said. Scott also must give time to spring football since he became the Yellow Jackets' punter last fall.
"Football is more a team sport than baseball, so I have tried to bring over from there some of those components to help my baseball teammates. I try to mix in the positives to bring everyone together."
The Nealon brothers have their priorities in order. "Being a Division III athlete means I have to put school first," Chris said. "Going to a school that has the reputation for academics that B-W does, I have had a lot of pressure taken off me because I know I am always going to get the academic support.
"To play sports here, I need to first perform in the classroom."
Chris is studying marketing and management. Scott is pursuing physical therapy and exercise science.
Because they are not identical twins, people often assume Chris is older than Scott. "When people hear we are brothers, most don't even think twins," Chris said. "Even though they think I am older, Scott is really older -- by 13 minutes."
