Baseball player Jake Lane preparing for the season

Jake Lane is a senior playing baseball at Grambling State University. 

Lane faced a lot of hardships when his junior year got cut short due to Covid in the spring. 

“I planned to ball out and play to my best ability this season but a global pandemic ruined my baseball season for me,” he said. 

When everyone went home for the rest of the spring semester early, Lane was upset because of how much he looked forward to playing with his team in the spring. 

When he was home Lane said he worked out everyday and continued to train. He didn't let the pandemic stop him. 

“I didn't let adversity change my outlook on life, I had a plan and I stuck to it, and that was to keep grinding until I came back next season,” Lane said.  

Lane said his family members were affected by Covid. 

“Yes, a family member I was closest to got affected and it was my mom,” Lane said. “For a while I stopped working out and caring about baseball because all I could think about was if she  was going to be OK. My mom was hospitalized for a week and no one was able to visit her. My heart was heavy and my mental state was not good. I kept praying everyday and kept begging God to heal her. That was probably the lowest I have ever been in my life.”

As Lane's mom recovered Jake began to work back out and go harder than ever before. 

“I don't know if my mom being sick helped me and gave me motivation but it definitely made me stronger and I wanted to work harder for her,” Lane said. “When she was sick she told me that she didn't want me to give up and stop achieving my goals because she was sick. My mom wanted me to be happy and keep doing whatever was going to make me happy so I could get my mind off of her being in the Hospital.” 

As spring rolls back around Jake comes back to the baseball team better than ever and is the number one baseball player in the SWAC. 

“I am definitely proud of the person I have made myself to be,” Lane said. “I pushed myself to the best of my ability and kept getting better. Going through my mom having covid made me become stronger and able to believe in myself because that's all my mom wanted for me.” 

Lane said he is looking forward to the season. 

”Being the number one leading the SWAC makes me feel good because it lets me know that I can do anything I put my mind to,” Lane said.