Worth County’s Jake Jones making the most of season

SYLVESTER — Jake Jones bumped gloves with catcher Hunter Goodwin after recording an out to end the inning.

He smiles and quietly walks to the dugout. That’s about the only celebration you’ll see from the Worth County High School senior.

After a battle with a stress fracture in his back that took nearly two years to fully heal, Jones isn’t taking anything for granted. He’s just glad to be on the field

Before the season started two years ago, Jones was taking batting practice and after he swung at a pitch from Worth County coach Will Smith, something didn’t feel right. Pain shot through his upper body, but he continued to hit anyway.

“I don’t know if I didn’t get quite loose enough or whatever, but it kept getting worse,” Jones said. “I kept playing, I would take medicine before the game for the pain.”

When Jones wasn’t pitching, he played first base.

After several weeks, the pain continued. He thought he had pulled a muscle.

“We figured we’d rest him for a few days,” Smith said. “He had some therapy and he comes back and said that he feels great. So he throws and everything and he’s fine. But then he takes a few swings and it locks him down again.”

Through five games in his sophomore season, the pain wasn’t as bad when he pitched and played first base, so Smith decided the team would use a designated hitter for him.

“He was worried he might re-aggravate it, so we hit for him,” Smith said. “Again, all of us thought he had pulled a muscle.”

However, a few days later after visiting a doctor, Jones received the bad news that he had a stress fracture in his back and he had breaks in two spots.

He took some time off, played some during the summer of 2014 before taking more time off last year. He was fitted for a brace that he wore underneath his uniform when pitching, but he did little on offense.

Jones has a handful of games left in his senior season and he’s determined to make the best of them. He still has some pain, but he said he won’t have surgery unless it continues to worsen.

One would never know it from watching the senior this year. He’s came back even stronger on the mound and his offense isn’t shabby either, batting .373 with four doubles and 12 RBIs as the No. 3 hitter for the Rams.

“I just thank God for blessing me and allowing me to come back and pitch,” Jones said. “I just try to go hard and play every game likes it’s my last.”

The thing that Smith said he likes the most about the senior is his leadership. Instead of concerning himself with statistics, Jones is more concerned about doing the smaller things to help the team win.

“He’s definitely a trooper,” Smith said. “He tries very hard because he doesn’t want to let us down. His desire to do well for the team and his teammates is hard to find these days.”