There was something different about Baton Rouge Rougarou pitcher Jack Jordan when he took the mound on Wednesday, July 8, to face the Abilene Flying Bison.
While all the other Rougarou players were wearing their usual green home jerseys, Jordan was the only player wearing a black one. And, instead of his usual No. 13, Jordan was wearing No. 14 for his scheduled start.
And while it may not have been evident, Jordan also was missing something. Something huge.
Just a few days earlier, Jordan, 20, a native of Ocean Springs, Miss., learned that Nolan Wells, one of his best friends from high school, had gone missing. A few days later, his body was found in the waters off Horn Island, a deserted stretch of sand just off the Mississippi coast. On July 4, Wells had gone to the island by boat with a group of friends – friends he shared with Jordan – and did not return. The case, which has drawn national headlines, is still under investigation.
For Jordan, it was a devastating loss of a friend he had known since middle school when they played baseball and football together. Jordan, the quarterback, had thrown many touchdown passes to Wells, the talented wide receiver. Wells played baseball too for a while and, off the field, they were buds.
“We really started hanging around a lot my junior year,” Jordan said. “Nolan was just the type of person who was always around everybody. He was always with people just because everybody loved being around him. He was a great person. A special soul. He was never mean to anybody. He always made people feel welcome.”
Jordan said the large group of Ocean Springs High School graduates often hung out together, gathering at each other’s houses to goof off and talk about their current school situations. Jordan was a red-shirt freshman at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss, this year. Wells was a stellar wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Junior College in Summit, Miss.
“Over Thanksgiving I spent the night at his house and we talked about school and where we wanted to go after junior college,” Jordan said.
The last time he hung out with Wells and the gang was in early June to watch Mississippi State take on Georgia in the NCAA baseball Super Regional.
“All of us were best friends,” Jordan said. “That’s who we hung out with every single day. They’d been off for a while and doing stuff without me so, when I got home I immediately started hanging out with them. It was groups every single day. First thing you’d wake up and talk about hanging out every day. We always looked out for each other and made sure each other was safe.”
Jordan, who joined the Rougarou just a few weeks ago for the second half of the Texas Collegiate League season, learned of his friend’s fate while on a trip to Tennessee with his girlfriend and her family.
“I saw a Facebook post his mom had made,” Jordan said. “I didn’t think much of it. To be honest I thought he had just gone home with somebody. His phone was dead. I don’t know. I thought he was somewhere. “
But by the time Jordan got home to Ocean Springs, reality was beginning to set in.
“I knew it wasn’t good,” he said. “I was still very hopeful though. Whenever I got home I saw my friends and family and we were still looking for him at the time. We had planned to go out the next day to look for him.”
A park ranger found Wells’ body the next morning.
Photo courtesy of Jack Jordan.
Since then, Jordan has been on a roller coaster of emotions. And looming ahead of him was his scheduled start against the Flying Bison that Wednesday.
“I didn’t want to pitch,” he said. “I found out on Monday that he wasn’t coming back. I told my dad I didn’t know if I could go, I didn’t know if I wanted to go. He talked to me and we discussed that sports are about getting away from real life and putting your mind to something else for better. So, I thought and I prayed and I decided that I would do it.”
Then Jordan made a call to Rougarou General Manager Casey McKenzie.
“I could tell something was wrong,” McKenzie said.
After explaining what happened, Jordan asked if the Rougarou could do something special to remember his friend.
“I said, I can’t offer you much,” McKenzie said. “We can do a moment of silence. We can paint something on the field. However you want to honor him on the field, we’ll do it.”
By Wednesday, a plan was in place. Through McKenzie, Jordan received special permission to wear a Rougarou black road jersey instead of a green one and to switch his number from 13 to 14 -- Wells' number in high school -- for the night. Jordan said that part was important.
"I wanted to wear his number," Jordan said. "In college he wears 16, but he only wears 16 when he can't get 14."
McKenzie said the Abilene coaches and the umpires also agreed.
“They were totally on board,” McKenzie said.
That set McKenzie in action.
“You know, baseball players are very superstitious about their numbers,” McKenzie said. “Wyatt Chenevert owns No. 14 on the Rougarou and has had a lot of success. But he was all on board and said, ‘I’d love for him to wear my jersey.’”
The problem was, Chenevert was already wearing it that day at a kids’ camp at East Ascension High School.
“I drove to East Ascension, got the jersey from Wyatt, put a t-shirt on him so he could go back to the camp, then drove home and washed and dried it so (Jordan) could have it for the game,” McKenzie said.
In the hours before the game, Jordan tried to focus on what would be his third outing for the Rougarou, but also, what would be a big moment for him and his lost friend. He spent some time alone in left field.
“I went out and prayed and talked to him,” Jordan said. “I tried not to think about the start. I kept thinking about him.”
Jordan said the pregame ceremony, which included a moment of silence, a script about their friendship read over the public address system, and a ceremonial first pitch by Jordan, nearly got to him.
“I was bawling my eyes out,” he said. “But I was able to gather myself and my teammates – I can’t speak enough about my teammates. Every single one of those dudes out there had my back from the moment I stepped out of the locker room. I’ve known these dudes only two weeks and they made me feel like family. That’s how I got through it.
“And I was OK with whatever happened, no matter if I gave up 10 runs, 10 hits, 10 walks, whatever. I felt like he was going to do it for me. I’ve thrown a lot of big games in my life against the best competition in the country. (That) was the biggest game I’ve ever pitched, in my mind. It was the calmest I’ve pitched all year.”
Said McKenzie: “There was a sense in our locker room that there was zero chance that they were going to let Jack Jordan lose that game.”
With an angel in the outfield and a bunch of determined Rougarou players on the field, Jordan put together a masterful outing. With tears still streaming, he gave up a leadoff walk and a one out double for a run, but it was the only run the Flying Bison would score. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up three hits, two walks and struck out eight to put the Rougarou on the path to a 9-1 win.
When he came off the field in the sixth inning, it was to hugs and high fives from his teammates and his coach, and a standing ovation from the crowd, which included Jordan’s dad, John, older brother, Porter, and girlfriend, Isabelle Burgess.
“This kid absolutely crushed it,” McKenzie said. “We were all crying on the mound. Everybody had tears and everybody hugged. I got him the game ball.”
“The way it turned out, it was so special to me,” he said. “I could feel his presence on the mound with me. He was there.”
It was a special moment for everyone involved.
“There are parts of a season, parts of your life, parts of things that go on in your life – moments that you don’t forget,” Rougarou coach Mike Forbes said. “And this will be one of those moments that you’re just going to remember, whether you were a player, whether you were a coach, whether you were Jack Jordan. It just makes you realize how baseball is awesome. Baseball is that tool we get to use to express ourselves. It just makes you realize there are so many more things that are important in this world than a game. This was a bunch of guys rooting for a young man who was doing the right thing for a friend of his, for that kid’s family.”
And for Jordan.
“I believe he was there,” Jordan said. “I asked him to be there. I don’t know if it sounds corny, but I just thought Nolan would do it for me.”
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer