The white lattice fence shows the work and the camaraderie.
The paint chips and holes and broken slats are a sign of the progress and persistence the siblings showed growing up. Amanda Nikhazy laughs at it now, remembering back to the games and hours spent in her Orlando-area backyard with younger brother, Doug Nikhazy.
The pair took turns pitching to each other throughout their youth, sent outside by their dad, Brad, to work off energy and work on their games. Amanda is now a senior infielder at Stetson. Doug is a weekend starter at Ole Miss and the reigning Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week.
At the time they were just playing around as kids. But it helped build a bond still cherished today.
“We would pitch full games to each other, counting balls and strikes and going batter to batter and it was our own thing in our heads to keep up with,” Amanda said. “The fence behind us took the beating of all our overthrows. We weren’t always that accurate.”
While her brother has always been athletic and craved outdoor activities, she remembers the moment his baseball talent struck her — literally in the palm. The pitch was hard and on target. She caught the ball but knew his 12-year-old arm was progressing faster than the desires of her 14-year-old catching skills.
After all, they didn’t wear catching gear.
“I said right then, ‘Yep, I’m done,’” Amanda said. “Some of the pitches got me. He throws strikes now, but I had to deal with it when he didn’t. There are really permanent bruises on my shins.”
During the last half dozen years, Nikhazy has progressed from his sister’s battery mate to one of the more reliable young arms in the SEC. After early outings in the bullpen and solid midweek starts against East Carolina and Louisville, Nikhazy stepped in to stabilize the middle of the Ole Miss rotation.
The left-hander — same as both siblings and his mother, Jill Bare — has given up four earned runs in 19.1 innings during his three league starts. Ole Miss won each of those games and is currently riding a five-game SEC winning streak to sit 8-4 in the conference and in a tie at the top of the Western Division with LSU and Arkansas.
Amanda Nikhazy is typically in the middle of her own Saturday doubleheader when her brother takes the mound. Despite Doug not being much of a phone person, they talk every other day or so, and she always thinks about him at the time of his first pitch while she’s on the field with the Hatters.
She’s developed her own routine after her games to check on what’s going on with the Rebels. There’s nervousness and then a more specific look depending on how it’s gone.
“I wish him luck in the morning and then go on Twitter immediately after my games to see if winning or losing,” Amanda said. “Then if it’s gone well I’ll deep dive into the stats and the ESPN app. Then if still in there I’ll get nervous, turn it on and here we go. Ole Miss baseball accounts do a great job, and the fans are crazy.”
Amanda hasn’t been to Oxford since the fall, but her parents, their other brother, T.J. or Doug’s girlfriend have been at most of his series this spring — including last weekend when he allowed one run in six innings to the home-state Gators.
All of them are on a group text message chain that blew up when he was named the Saturday starter against Missouri last month. In his first SEC start he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. The brother and sister spent time last summer discussing student-athlete obligations and what Doug should expect in Oxford.
And along the way Amanda has become a fan of the Rebels, as well. She came with Doug on his first unofficial visit to Oxford and is entertaining plans of potentially joining him in Mississippi.
A communications and media studies major, Amanda does sideline work and interviews for ESPN streaming during Stetson football games. With her college career over in a month or two, reconnecting with Doug and watching his success firsthand is a hopeful goal.
“I want to stay in the sports realm, and I loved Ole Miss, too, from when I visited,” Amanda said. “It would be wonderful to be there, to be with Doug. It’s been awesome to see him do so well.”
