Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach
5th Season 
JCCC / Avila University

Gardner-area native and former Johnson County Community College pitcher Wally Nellor joined the Cavaliers coaching staff in August 2019. 

In his four season at staff, the Cavaliers have compiled a 165-40 record, a .805 winning percentage, one Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division title, a Region 6/Central District championshp and one JUCO World Series berth. 

He has also helped coach 32 Kansas Jayhawk Conference performers, nine All-Region VI selections, one NJCAA and ABCA/Rawlings All-American, two Region 6 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winners including Jeremy Rader, the 2023 ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA D-I Gold Glove Award® winner at third base. JCCCh has produced one College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® selection and 49 players have earned NJCAA All-Academic recognition. He also has helped place 60 players in four-year programs, including 37 at the NCAA D-I level and had one pitcher selected in the MLB Draft.

This past season, the Cavaliers reached the NJCAA D-I World Series for the third time in program history and the first since 2014. JCCC went 56-10, including a 30-3 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division to capture the program’s 11th title. Their 56 wins set a new team mark and tie the second most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history. Following the season. Horner was named the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division and ABCA/ATEC NJCAA D-I Central District Coach of the Year.

Fourteen Cavaliers were named All-KJCCC East Division, including conference Pitcher of the Year Luc Fladda and Co-Freshman of the Year Dagen Brewer. Fladda was also named National Junior College Athletic Association and American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings second-team All-American.

Johnson County finished second in the country with a .364 team batting average, fourth with a .466 on-base percentage, and sixth with 597 runs scored. As a team, the Cavaliers drew nearly as many walks (336) as they had strikeouts (346). On the mound, JCCC's 3.80 ERA ranked eighth nationally, piling up 601 strikeouts to finish fourth in the country. The Cavaliers team fielding percentage of .976 was the second-best mark in NJCAA Division 1.

In 2022, JCCC opened the season ranked No. 17 in the NJCAA, No. 11 in JUCO Baseball Blog and received votes in both the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Prep Baseball Report preseason polls. The Cavaliers finished the season 46-17 overall, and 23-9 in conference play, good for third place. He would also help coach nine all-conference selections, with four also earning All-Region VI honors. Johnson County was one of the top hitting teams in the NJCAA. They ranked 7th with a team batting average of .356. They also ranked in the top-10 nationally in hits (684-6th), doubles (146-7th), RBI (526-9th), runs (579-9th), total bases (1118-8th) and extra base hits (250-7th).

On the mound in 2022, JCCC led the conference and ranked 30th in the NJCAA with a staff ERA of 4.41. JCCC also led the conference in fewes earned runs with 229 and Cavalier pitchers were third in the KJCCC and 12th nationally with 558 strikeouts.

Off the diamond nine student-athletes earned NJCAA All-Academic honors. 

In 2021 while serving his first season as assistant to Eric Horner, the Cavaliers raced out of the gate winning its first 25 games and were ranked as high as No. 5 in early April. The Cavaliers would go on to finish the season 43-10 and ranked 16th in the final NJCAA D-I Poll.  He helped coach nine all-conference performers, with three landing on the first-team, and two All-Region VI performers. Off the diamond eight student-athletes earned NJCAA All-Academic honors. In 2021, the Cavaliers were one of the top hitting teams in the NJCAA. They led the country in slugging percentage (.690), and ranked second in batting average (.399), second in triples (35), fourth in hits (687), fourth in extra base hits (271), fourth in total bases (1189), fifth in runs (622), fifth in RBI (570), sixth in home runs (98) and seventh in doubles (138).

The 2021 JCCC pitching staff led the conference and ranked 10th in the NJCAA with 561 strikeouts and the staff led the conference in fewest earned runs allowed with 199 and in ERA at 4.26. 

In his first season on staff, the Cavaliers were 20-3 and ranked in the top-10 nationally when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The JCCC pitching staff led the conference and ranked 11th nationally with 260 strikeouts and their 14.53 strikeouts per nine inning ration was third-best in the NJCAA. Two members of the pitching staff were recognized nationally. Right-hander Drew Garrett made the Prep Baseball Report Top 100 Junior College prospects list for Major League Baseball, and left-hander Jay Long was named honorable mention All-America by JUCO Baseball Blog.

A deceptive left-hander, Nellor burst onto the scene at Johnson County as freshman in 2015, earning All-East Jayhawk Conference first-team and second-team All-Region VI accolades. He made 26 mound appearances for the Cavaliers that season, all in relief. He logged 58.1 innings, second most on the staff, led the Cavaliers with a 1.70 earned run average and seven saves. He was also 4-0 with 52 strikeouts and only allowed 11 earned runs. His seven saves tied him for fourth on JCCC’s season chart. 

As a sophomore, Nellor posted a 4-3 record with 54 strikeouts in 51.0 innings of work. He also had two saves and finished with an ERA of 3.88. 

Nellor closed out his career ranked third all-time in career saves with nine. He was 8-3 overall with 106 strikeouts over 109.1 innings pitched.  Overall, he made 41 career appearances and posted 2.72 career earned run average. He also helped the Cavaliers post a record of 95-30 over those two seasons.

Nellor continued his career at Washburn University, playing under the direction of coach Harley Douglas. He appeared in five games, all in relief, logging four innings and five strikeouts.

After the season, Nellor transferred to Avila University to play for coach Daryl Cronk for his senior campaign.  He pitched 2.2 innings in three games and finished with an ERA of 3.38 and three strikeouts. 

As a prep athlete at Garder-Edgerton High School, Nellor was a three-year starter for coach Corry Schrack. He was a two-time All-Eastern Kansas League pitcher, earning second-team as a junior and first-team his senior year. He graduated in the top 10 percent of his class.