EDWARDSVILLE - Junior pitcher Jake Holder has been one of the aces of the Edwardsville baseball pitching staff this season, going to 4-0 with a 9-0 win over DeSmet Jesuit Monday afternoon at Tom Pile Field.
Holder threw five innings, allowing two hits while walking one and striking out another in the win over the Spartans, giving the Tigers a 22-0 record going into a crucial Southwestern Conference series Tuesday and Thursday against Belleville East. Jake is the iCAN Clinic Male Athlete of the Month for Edwardsville High School.
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"I'm feeling good," Holder said during an interview that followed Monday's game. "Still felt good today, with the rough conditions, I do what I can."
The weather conditions were less than ideal for the game, with a soft, misty rain falling during the contest, with an overcast sky and breeze blowing towards left field. Holder and his teammates made the best of the conditions to play well.
"I didn't really focus much on that," Holder said. "I just continued to throw strikes."
Holder uses a moving fastball to get batters out, and he uses it very effectively.
"Probably a fastball is my best pitch, with it raining today," Holder said. "I don't have a high vs. low, I just get it to move. I don't get a lot of strikeouts, so I have to get ground balls, pop-ups wherever I can to get outs."
When Holder does find trouble, he depends on other pitches to help him get out of jams and is very effective with them as well.
"Fastball and change-up, get them swinging, hit a ground ball," Holder said.
Edwardsville stayed undefeated with the win on Monday, and Holder, along with the rest of his teammates, has been enjoying the ride so far and hopes that it keeps going.
"It's been fun," Holder said. "It's probably the best time I've had playing baseball. We're all competitors and every game, in competitive games, is fun."
The momentum has been going along well all season for the Tigers, and it couldn't be much more important, with the postseason beginning later in May, along with important regular-season games still to play. Holder and his teammates have plans for the rest of the regular season.
"We've got Belleville East coming up and they're a pretty good team," Holder said. "But we're confident, so we're rolling right now."
As far as goals are concerned for the remainder of the regular season, Holder is taking the simple and practical approach.
"Not really looking ahead," Holder said, "just taking it each, game-by-game."
