Cousin is a World Series Champ

I’m not particularly old.

In fact, I’m closer in age to the students I cover than I am to the parents.

Yet, these past couple of months have been a unique experience for me, getting the opportunity for me to feel immense pride in one of my younger family members.

Last weekend, my second cousin, Nate Snead, got the opportunity to pitch in Omaha for the College World Series and tossed 2 2/3 solid innings over the three-game series to help the Tennessee Volunteers become NCAA champions.

Being about five years older than Nate, I’m not as close to him as my younger brother is. I wouldn’t have ever played against him growing up.

One of the earlier memories I have about his baseball career was when talking to his father Jim. Being from the adjacent city, I didn’t see a ton of what Nate was able to do, but Jim talked Nate and his game up a lot.

During the conversation, I initially assumed some of that talk was just a dad overestimating the ability of his kid. A lot of parents often aren’t super realistic about their kid’s athletic abilities, but whether Jim's assessment of Nate was accurate at the time or not, he couldn’t have been more on the money.

Once I hit college, I didn’t get to see much of Nate outside of Christmas, but following along from a distance it was clear he started to take off. 

He earned a number of accolades in two seasons pitching for the South Milwaukee High School Rockets. His biggest achievement during high school came when he threw the first perfect game in school history by striking out 14 of 15 batters.

He originally committed to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa, before flipping his commitment to Wichita State.

From there, he became a key asset to the Shockers out of the bullpen by striking out 53 batters in 42.2 innings, recording a 3.16 ERA and making three saves.

The freshman-year success and the state of the NCAA transfer portal allowed him to move onto a Power 5 school.

Despite pitching in a more difficult league, he improved his game as a Volunteer. He boasted the best ERA on Tennessee of the pitchers with enough innings to qualify at 3.11. Nate also was near the top with 10 wins, six saves and 75.1 innings pitched as well.

All of that culminated in him making two appearances in the College World Series.

On Sunday, Nate inherited two runners in the bottom of the ninth inning with a 4-1 lead. A ground out and two fly outs got Tennessee out of the inning unscathed and won the game while giving Nate the save.

On Monday, he pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief. He locked down the Texas A&M Aggies in the sixth and seventh innings and only gave up one earned run in the eight — a runner he bequeathed to Dylan Loy, who threw two wild pitches before surrendering a single up the middle. Tennessee went on to win the game 6-5 to take the NCAA title back to Knoxville for the first time.

Nate played a pivotal role to get the Volunteers to the World Series and delivered a pair of strong performances to help seal the deal.

Beyond getting to watch someone I know play at such a high level, I witnessed the development of a family member. Monday’s celebration came only as a result of the hard work he’s put in over his 20 years of life.

While I’m not his mom or dad, who have spent countless hours driving him to tournaments and plenty of dollars on lessons, travel ball, equipment and the lifestyle of a high-level athlete, I am someone who got to witness him grow into the player he is today.

What’s even better than getting to watch him be on top of the world and achieve heights I can only imagine is thinking of where his hard work and talent can take him next.