UC Santa Barbara
2016 All-Big West First Team
2017 Preseason All-America
2017: Prior to his true junior year, was named the No. 6 reliever in the country by D1Baseball ... Was included on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List for the second time in his career ... Earned a trio of Preseason All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, and the NCBWA ... Made the transition to the rotation at the beginning of the season ... Went on to make 15 appearances, all starts ... Ended the year with a 6-4 record, a 4.53 ERA, 30 walks, and a team-high 69 strikeouts in 87 1/3 innings ... Went 2-2 with a 5.01 ERA in Big West play ... Had a 2.93 ERA over six starts at home compared to a 6.09 ERA in nine away contests ... Team was 6-9 in his starts ... Led the team in starts, innings, and strikeouts ... Had a .230 batting average against for the season, fourth lowest in the Big West among qualified pitchers ... Was one of seven conference hurlers to make 15 starts ... Best month of the season came in February, as he debuted with four innings of one-run ball at Loyola Marymount on Feb. 18 before holding Tulane to one run on two hits over five innings on Feb. 25 ... Logged his first career complete game, one of just two thrown by Gaucho pitchers in 2017, on May 5 at UC Davis, allowing two earned runs and striking out six in a 6-3 win ... Best start of the year came on Mar. 25 at home against New Mexico State, as he blanked the Aggies on three hits with eight strikeouts while pitching into the ninth inning for the first time in his career ... Had a career and season-high nine strikeouts on Apr. 8 at CSUN, needing just seven innings to rack them up ... Allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of his 15 starts, including his final two of the year.
2016: UCSB's top arm out of the bullpen, Nelson made a team-high 33 appearances including one start as a true sophomore ... Crafted a 2.18 ERA and struck out 87 over 74 1/3 innings ... Had a 7-2 record and a team-high 10 saves ... One of just four Gauchos all-time (last: Dillon Tate) to reach double-digit saves in a single season ... After the regular season, was named to the All-Big West First Team ... Opened the year with a 22-inning streak without allowing an earned run ... Combined with a 27-inning scoreless streak to close out his 2015 campaign, he totaled a school record 49 straight innings without allowing an earned run ... His 10 saves ranked second in the Big West ... Had no record, two saves, a 1.64 ERA, and 14 strikeouts in four postseason appearances (11 innings) ... Made one appearance in the College World Series, earning a three-inning save in UCSB's win over Miami on Jun. 20 ... He allowed two runs in that game, his only allowed runs in the postseason ... Appeared once in the Super Regionals, tossing two innings of hitless relief in the opener to lock down a 4-2 win over Louisville ... Was spectacular for UCSB in the Nashville Regional, logging six shutout innings and allowing just one hit while striking out 11 ... Was named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List ... Also named to the College Baseball Hall of Fame's National Pitcher of the Year Watch List ... In his one start, allowed four earned runs on nine hits against Hawaii on May 1 ... In the Big West, ranked first in appearances, third in K/9 (10.53), fourth in WHIP (1.00), fourth in ERA, and fifth in K-BB ratio (4.83) ... Had a 3.91 ERA in Big West play ... Had a 1.20 ERA through the end of April ... Had a rough May, authoring a 4.91 ERA ... Gave up more earned runs in May (10) than the first seven months of his career combined (nine) ... Walked just four batters in his first 46 innings ... Tossed a season-high six innings of relief on Mar. 5 at Oregon, earning the win in a 14-inning, 1-0 UCSB win ... Didn't allow a hit in his first 5 1/3 innings of action ... Struck out a batter or more per inning in 19 of his outings ... Struck out six batters to earn a six-out save against Cal State Fullerton on May 13 ... Got 4+ outs in 25 of his 32 outings ... Tossed 3+ IP on 10 occassions ... In the summer, trialed for the prestigious USA Collegiate National Team ... Was shut down for the summer after suffering an injury ... Ironically, injury occurred at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, as Team USA was playing an exhibition against the Santa Barbara Foresters, the local California Collegiate League team.
2015: Continued a tradition of annual breakout pitchers in the Gaucho bullpen, authoring a 3-1 record and 0.75 ERA in 36.0 innings pitched ... Led the team in appearances (25) and relief innings ... Is in the midst of a 27 inning streak without having allowed an earned run, a record for any UCSB pitcher in the Andrew Checketts era (since 2012) ... Last time he allowed an ER was Mar. 24 against Loyola Marymount, a stretch of 14 outings ... Retired all 15 batters he faced, earned the win in a five-inning relief outing against UC Davis on May 3 ... Is 2-2 in save situations this year, allowing just one hit and no runs in 1.2 IP ... Was UCSB's only lefty in the pen for a large portion of the year ... Allowed an ER just twice in 25 appearances (8%) ... In his NCAA debut (Feb. 14 vs. BYU), allowed just one hit and no runs in 2.1 IP ... Tossed 4.1 IP vs. Cal State Bakersfield on May 12, allowing three hits but 0 ER ... Pitched 2.1 IP in the Lake Elsinore Regional without surrendering an earned run ... Over the summer, pitched 23.2 innings for the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods League ... Had a 2-0 record and 1.93 ERA over three starts.
High School: Played four varsity years at Galileo High School ... Also played three years of football as a quarterback ... On the baseball team, played pitcher, center field, and first base ... Was a three-time First Team All-City selection in baseball ... Made section playoffs in both his junior and senior seasons.
Personal: Kyle Nelson was born on Jul. 8, 1996 in San Francisco ... Parents are Scott Nelson and Mela Smith ... Goes by the nickname "Nelly" ... Plans on majoring in history ... In summer 2014, went 3-1 with a 4.15 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots of the Alaska Baseball League.
