With the baseball season now well underway, catcher Jacob Lyver, senior, has many hopes for success along with his teammates. Jake has been a varsity player for the Falcons two years of his high school career, and has been playing 13 years overall.

As part of our ongoing Athlete of the Week feature, we interviewed Jake to find out about his history playing baseball and how he plans to make the most of his last year with his coaches and friends in the baseball program.

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What is your favorite part of being on the baseball team?

• “My favorite part about baseball is how after every pitch, something different can happen and it is a game of small ball and split timing, or inches.”

What are your goals for this season for yourself and the team?

• “My individual goal is to hit above 200 and throw everyone out that tries to steal on me while I’m catching. My goals for the team this year are to be in the top of league to build confidence to make a run in the playoffs. I think that if we play hard, each game, we can beat any team in our league and put ourselves on top.”

Are you planning on doing baseball in college? If so, where and why would you want to play?

• “I don’t plan on playing baseball in college, but I am playing football for George Fox University.”

What is your favorite memory of your high school baseball experience?

• “My favorite memory in high school baseball was from our trip to Arizona this spring break, while watching “Big Time” (Justin Owens) dance with the waiters to “Good Time” at the steakhouse we went to and then attempt to dab while being up there.”

How many days a week do you practice and/or workout?

• “We have practice 3 days of the week if we have 3 games that week, but we have baseball 6 days of the week.”

What are you going to miss most about the high school season as a whole?

• “I’m going to to miss the bus rides with the team the most.”

What is different about this season than others?

• “This year we are way closer as a team and have the same goal of going as far as we can. And we know when to joke around and when to be serious.”

What will be your biggest challenge this season?

• “My biggest challenge this season will be my hitting.”

How do you balance school and participating in athletics such as baseball?

• “I balance baseball and school by planning out when I have project and other big projects to get them done sooner and for daily assignments I just sit down and do them when I get home.”

What is the biggest lesson or lasting influence you want to leave your team, especially the juniors this year, with?

• “The biggest thing I want to leave the team with is to not take things for granted. I want them to remember to take all the opportunities that they get and do whatever they can with them.”

Congrats to Jake for all of his hard work both in the classroom and on the field!