By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The most recent homestand for the Florence Y’alls did not go well. The pro baseball team went 0-3 against the leader in its division to fall 10 games behind in the standings.
One of the few positive vibes during that series against the Washington Wild Wings from Pennsylvania came in the ninth inning of last Tuesday’s game. That’s when Y’alls left-handed relief pitcher Jake Lynch retired the three batters he faced in his first appearance out of the bullpen since the Frontier League season began.
Lynch had been on the 60-day injured list after suffering a skull fracture when a hard line drive back to the mound hit him above the left ear during a spring training game.
“I don’t remember seeing the ball at all,” said Lynch, who grew up near Chicago. “I threw the pitch and then boom. It was lights out for a second and all of sudden I wake up laying down and there are a bunch of people looking down at me.”
Lynch, 23, said he was released from the hospital the next day and spent most of his recovery period back home with his parents.
He returned to the Y’alls in June and worked on his pitching for a few weeks before the manager brought him out of the bullpen in last Tuesday’s game.
After the first two batters he faced grounded out, he ended the ending with a strikeout and sparked a joyous reaction by his teammates.
“Everyone was giving me hugs in the dugout,” Lynch said. “Everyone was very happy for me even though is sucked that we lost.”
The Y’alls have a 27-27 record with one game remaining before they take a break for the Frontier League All-Star Game that’s scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Thomas More Stadium in Florence.
This is Lynch’s first season in the league so he might stay around to watch the all-stars play. Like him, they’re hoping to do well enough at this level to attract a contract from a Major League Baseball club. Despite the injury he sustained in spring training, Lynch is still pursuing that dream.
“That’s why I’m still here, because I think I have what it takes,” he said. “Life happens so you’ve just got to keep going with it. You’ve got to roll with the punches sometimes.”
Lynch had surgery on his left elbow while he was in high school, but that didn’t hold him back either. As a relief pitcher for Lipscomb University in Tennessee during the 2025 season, he led the Atlantic Sun Conference with 26 appearances out of the bullpen. He finished with a 3.02 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 44 innings.
Last summer, Lynch pitched for the West Virginia Black Bears in a league for MLB draft eligible players. After that, he got an offer from the Florence Y’alls and signed in February.
According on an online player profile, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound leftie throws “with a smooth, deceptive delivery that hides the ball well and creates tough angles for hitters.”
In his second outing for the Y’alls last week, Lynch pitched 1.2 innings with two walks, two wild pitches and he gave up a two-run homer against the Wild Wings. But he won’t let one shaky performance undermine his confidence.
“It’s a long journey, no matter what, so you might as well take it slow and take it day by day,” he said. “I knew once I got here I’d be a little antsy to try and prove myself. Now, it’s like, slow it down. You’ve got to be here before anything else so just enjoy it.”