At this time last year, Jacob Dunn was a home-schooled kid playing baseball with his peers. For the last several years, he has earned a sterling reputation during summer leagues in Demopolis and Linden. But he had yet to take his game to the high school level.

This year Dunn has finally done just that. He has filled in at second base for the Longhorns when incumbent Rabe Hale has shifted to the mound. And he has logged innings where needed. Two weeks ago, he blasted a grand slam that put his team out in front to stay in a big region win.

But it was not until last Friday that the softspoken sophomore really announced his presence to the rest of the AISA.

Dunn took the ball to start the Longhorns’ fifth game of a seven-contest week. And he did it against the AISA’s No. 7 team in Monroe Academy.

Knowing that he needed to put together a solid effort to try and rest his team’s tired pitching staff, Dunn wriggled out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning. From there he cruised, keeping the bases completely empty until the sixth inning when a pair of errors plated an unearned run. He didn’t get the win, but he did log six innings of strong work, rested his teammates pitching arms and gave MA a chance to win.