FRUITPORT – Cody Nash was prepared to wrap up his sports career for good, months before graduating from Fruitport High School.

He had already rejected the idea of playing college football, despite drawing interest from numerous recruiters. He says his body has taken enough pounding and he’s already tired of the aches and pains.

Nash has enlisted in the United States Marines and will leave for basic training a few weeks after graduation.

But the guys on the Fruitport baseball team wanted Nash to play one more season of high school sports before moving on. They know how good he was as a sophomore outfielder before skipping a season last year, and they bugged him all winter about coming out.

Nash finally agreed to play shortly before practice started, and he’s already made a difference for a team that was desperately in need of his speed, defensive skills and senior leadership.

About a month into the season, Nash is happy that he chose to put on a Fruitport uniform one more time, in a sport he’d been playing since he was a tiny kid.

“Especially since I will not be going to college, this is my last season of sports,” Nash said. “I do take pride in it. It was one of my main sports growing up.”

Most fans know Nash for his amazing exploits as a star slot receiver on the Fruitport football team.

As a junior he earned All-State honors after gaining 679 yards receiving, 366 yards rushing and scoring 11 combined touchdowns.  Last fall he was All-Region after gaining 560 yards rushing and 493 receiving with seven TDs.

He was an all-conference selection for three straight varsity football seasons. But he was also battered and bruised by the time it was all over.

“My body started killing me,” he said. “I had to go to a chiropractor just to get my back straight after football season. My shoulders were all messed up, my elbows and ankles were messed up. It was kind of nice to hang up the cleats. Eventually you have to.”

What a lot people don’t realize is that Nash was a pretty good baseball player, as well. He broke into varsity as an all-conference outfielder as a sophomore, before deciding to skip last season and run track instead.

“I was getting tired of baseball a little bit, and I went into track thinking this might be a better sport to help get into shape for football,” he said.

Nash enjoyed running track last spring, mostly because a lot of his football friends were also on the team. But that was not going to be the case this spring, so he decided against returning to track, and was learning toward having a spring with no sports at all for the first time in years.

But the guys on the baseball team stayed in his ears all fall and winter, and finally talked him into playing one more season.

“Avery Lambers, Ryan Bosch and all those guys were like, ‘Come back and play baseball,’” he said. “They were getting on me quite a bit. Finally the week of tryouts I said I would come out.”

Nash’s return was very good news for Fruitport head coach Nick Reed, who lost a lot of talented seniors from last season’s district championship baseball team.

“I know the guys worked on him all fall and all winter, then I pulled him aside and talked to him and learned he wasn’t planning on running track again,” said Reed, who only has three seniors on the team this season, including Nash. “I could tell he was getting a little excited about the idea and was thinking about it. Then one night he was texting me, asking me when does this happen, when does this happen. I could tell he was leaning toward playing.

“He adds more leadership – a lot of guys respect him – and he adds a speed element we haven’t had in some time.”

Baseball is a very skilled game, and it’s taking some time for Nash to brush up when it comes to hitting. That’s been true for most of the team, which features good pitching and defense, but is still coming around at the plate.

Nash and the Trojans finally had a big offensive night last Friday, when they beat Ludington 15-0 at Muskegon’s Marsh Field. Nash had one hit and two RBIs.

“I batted good our first game, but once we started seeing harder pitchers it became more difficult,” he said. “I’m getting used to that again now.”

While Nash is waiting to hit his full stride at the plate, he’s already made an impact on the basepaths.

In a game against Allendale a few weeks ago, he got picked off first but took off running and was safe at second, anyway. Moments later he broke for third, the pitch got past the catcher and he scored on the play. After his hit last Friday against Ludington, he stole second and third then scored on a single.

Nash already has eight stolen bases this year, and has his sights set on the Fruitport single-season record of 53 steals.

“He took a year off and he’s still catching up hitting-wise, but he’s still a menace when he gets on base,” Coach Reed said. “He’s relearning how to play the game and use his speed in the game, but once he figures it out, it’s going to be fun.”

Nash has also added a lot to the Fruitport defense, using his speed to cover a lot of ground in center field, and he has a great arm to gun down runners who try to advance.

“He made a play last week in Allendale when there was a runner on second base who tagged up on a fly ball,” Reed said. “(Nash) caught the ball on the run in the right-center gap and made a great throw to third. The runner would have been out by five steps if we hadn’t dropped the ball. It was a great play.”

Nash said he enjoys playing the outfield with two talented youngsters on each side of him – sophomores Braxton Ward and Jax Flynn – who are also very good with their gloves. The three of them – plus a few other outfielders who rotate in – give Fruitport one of the better defensive outfields in the area.

“I know they are going to get it done, no matter what,” Nash said about his fellow outfielders.