Red Raider baseball has lost one of its key pieces for the season.
Senior right-hander Jacob Holder, who has fluctuated between being the program’s number 1 or 2 pitcher over the past three seasons, has learned he is done for the year with a tear in his UCL and multiple other tears in his upper and lower arm.
Holder was scheduled to start on Tuesday, April 11 in a district game at Franklin County but went down during pregame warmups with an elbow injury. Further medical testing revealed the tears. The injuries end his high school career.
“There is no replacing Jacob Holder, both in performance or personality. He’s truly 1 of 1,” CHS head coach Kyle Douglas told Thunder Radio Sports. “There’s not a kid in our program who is more proud to wear the CC every night and go to war with his teammates. He’s put us on his shoulders for two and a half years and been the true definition of a workhorse.
“Now we have a chance as a team to come together and return the favor to big Jake for everything he’s done for us in his career.”
The UCL, or ulnar collateral ligament, is often associated with Tommy John Surgery. It is not uncommon to take 18-24 months for pitchers to completely regain velocity and accuracy they possessed before the operation.
Through 24.2 innings on the mound this spring, Holder was 2-1 with 35 strikeouts and a 1.14 ERA. His lone loss came last week to Shelbyville in a game that lacked run support, losing 1-0. Holder also started at third base for CHS.
The Raiders (10-5 overall / 7-1 district) will travel to Lincoln County at 5 p.m. Friday before returning to district play Monday when Warren County travels to Manchester for a 6 p.m. start.
