Nichols ropes in another victory for Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS - The boots in his clubhouse stall tell you all you need to know about Heath Nichols. He's a cowboy, baby.

It's in the genes. Or is it jeans?

"Worn boots for a long time," said Nichols, who threw seven effective innings in the Cedar Rapids Kernels' 8-2 win Thursday night over Bowling Green before 2,872 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium. "I'm a cowboy, more or less, I guess. It's a family thing."

Nichols' dad, Will, used to ride bulls. Heath did some of that rodeo stuff, too, before baseball won out.

From the Phoenix suburb of Queen Creek, Ariz., he threw for the College of Southern Idaho before the Angels signed him after drafting him in the 29th round of the 2009 draft. Goodbye bulls, hello breaking balls.

"I didn't do a (rodeo) circuit or anything," Nichols said with a smile. "I did it despite my dad. To make him mad. It's kind of funny now. I mess around with roping and things still. A little bit ... I want to be good at everything I do. Now that's baseball. I want to do the best I can at it."

That's pretty good right now. Nichols (6-5) continued his June-July surge, giving up just five hits to win for the fourth time in his last five starts.

Some of the credit goes to a new delivery, in which he brings his hands over his head before each pitch. That has helped him get into a better rhythm.

New delivery or whatever, no one on this Kernels team has improved over the course of the season more than Nichols. Rodeo is officially history.

"It's in the past. I'm playing baseball now," Nichols said. "This is where I belong."

The Kernels (41-49 overall, 9-11 in the Midwest League's second half) roughed up former Des Moines Area Community College pitcher George Jensen for 11 hits and eight runs in 3 2/3 innings. Ricky Alvarez and Jeremy Cruz each had two-run home runs and Jean Almanzar a run-scoring triple for a second consecutive game.

The teams conclude their three-game series Friday night at 6:35.