Merced High senior misses chance to play in game honoring father and uncle, due to pandemic
Senior Spotlight is a series of stories by the Merced Sun-Star highlighting the stories of high school senior athletes from the spring season who had their seasons cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Growing up, each year Andrew Nannini would help hand out dozens of scholarships.
He would stand next to his grandfather, Dave Nannini, near home plate at the Merced High baseball diamond as they handed out envelopes to senior baseball players from Merced and Golden Valley high schools.
Since 2004, the annual “Nannini Game” has been an opportunity for high school kids to play on a big stage under the lights.
Meanwhile, it was also a way for the community to honor Kevin and Brian Nannini, twins who died when their fishing boat capsized in San Luis Reservoir in 2004.
Both Kevin and Brian Nannini were baseball stars during their time at Merced High and Merced College in the 1990s.
The scholarships were gifts from the Kevin and Brian Nannini Scholarship Fund, started by Dave Nannini in honor of his sons.
Andrew, who is Brian’s oldest son, is a senior on the Merced High baseball team. This year’s Nannini Game was scheduled for Friday night and would have been the 17th Annual Nannini Game.
Andrew would have been one of the seniors receiving an envelope. It was his turn to receive a scholarship in honor of his father. But it’s a moment he will miss out on, due to cancellation of the season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“For sure that’s a tough blow,” Andrew said. “All of this is a big blow to me personally and everyone else. That would have been an amazing moment. It’s crazy, growing up, giving those envelopes to seniors all those years and now I’m a senior. I don’t know what that would have been like. I wanted to wait to experience it to know.”
The “Nannini Game” always drew the biggest crowd of the season as the two teams played under the lights. The retired jersey numbers of Brian (12) and Kevin (7) hang on the outfield fence.
Andrew wears No. 19 — adding both jersey numbers together — to honor both his father and uncle.
“It’s the flagship game for the district,” said Merced coach Todd Buchner. “For everything Dave Nannini has done and gone through, it’s an opportunity to highlight what they do. This game was one of the first things that came to mind when everything was canceled. It’s one of the hardest things not to have.”
Dave Nannini usually battles through his emotions as he addresses the crowd before the game and then hands out the scholarships. Every senior player on Merced and Golden Valley teams receives a $300 scholarship. El Capitan seniors were added last year. Since 2004, they’ve handed out over $60,000 in scholarship money.
“I was really looking forward to it,” said Dave Nannini. “It’s Andrew’s namesake game. I didn’t want to put any pressure on him. I think it would have been a good thing for the family. We’ve been talking about it since Christmas. The whole family was going to make it a point to go to the game.”
Andrew was off to a great start this season, hitting .444 through the first three games and scoring three runs. He was selected as a team captain by his teammates.
“It was a big confidence boost for me having my teammates nominate me as a team captain,” Andrew said. “I was proud to be a captain and lead the team. As a team we started off with a winning record. I was pretty excited to see what we could do.”
Andrew doesn’t just miss his time in the dugout. He says it’s tough missing out on the final couple months of his senior year in high school. He says many students thought they would return to school after the initial shutdown of the schools.
“We didn’t know that was going to be our last day of school,” Andrew said. “When they shut down the schools for quarantine we thought it would be a couple weeks and we’d come back after spring break. We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. It’s tough looking back at it now. I’ve been going to school the last 17 years with a lot of the same people.”
Friday’s game is just one more thing added to the list of canceled events.
“It would have been a pound moment for my grandpa and a special moment for my family,” Andrew said. “My family and friends have been talking about it all year long. My name is on it. It’s always a special night.”
