ROGERS — It's been a tough six months for Rogers High baseball and football player Jacob Bray.

The Mounties junior will be in uniform today when Rogers kicks off 7A/6A-West Conference play against Springdale High at Veterans Park.

A little over six months ago, Bray was injured in a hunting accident. Bray was struck by a dozen pellets, and he still has three inside his body. But the most devastating injury came when one of the pellets entered his left eye.

"The doctor said it doesn't look good and that I may lose the eye," Bray said. "I knew if I only had one eye, it would be difficult to play."

Bray made it a mission to be in uniform for a Mounties baseball team that made the Class 7A State Championship game last season. Bray also plans on putting on his football pads this fall after missing all of last season, and he said he has no worries about playing either sport.

"Baseball is a bit scary because the baseball comes so fast," Bray said. "I think football will be easier because I can better use both hands."

Since the accident on Labor Day Weekend, Bray has undergone two eye surgeries and may have to have a third in the near future. After one of the surgeries, Bray had to lie face down 24-hours a day for almost a week.

"In it, I have half vision," Bray said. "I can play; it's just really difficult. When the ball is in the air, it is hard to see how fast the ball is moving, how close is it. I have to adjust what I look at. Pitching is kind of the same. I just have to really aim at the glove.

"But I get used to it more and more every day."

Mounties baseball coach Matt Melson said Bray is taking a slow approach to returning to games.

"Jacob is a person that never makes excuses or complains," Melson said. "He has more reason to complain than anybody, but he is the first one to practice. He is down on the depth chart right now, but it seems like he is on the road to recovery. He is the leader in the dugout. We are still concerned about that ball right up the box. Once we get past that, we could put him out there because he can throw strikes."

The accident happened while dove hunting with family and friends Sept. 1. He remembers every detail from the moment he was hit to the trip to the hospital in Rogers. He was then rushed to Little Rock for emergency eye surgery.

"I just got hit, and I didn't really know what happened," Bray said. "I was just laying there, and I got up thinking, 'Did I really just get shot.' I went to my dad, and he was just shocked at what happened. We went right to the hospital here at Mercy. The one in the eye hurt the most, it gave me a major migraine."

At the hospital in Rogers, Bray was told he had a hole in his eye, and the family headed to Little Rock for surgery to save the eye. After a brief trip home that saw Bray watching the Mounties open the football season with a victory against Mountain Home, he returned to Little Rock for a second surgery.

The rehab from that second surgery was "brutal." Bray was on a massage table for a week. He had a portable television underneath it so he could watch television. He also ate while on the table.

"I had to lay face down for an entire week," Bray said. "They put an air bubble in it. That was the absolute worst. I couldn't look around at anything, it was just bad. I never got up except to go to the bathroom. When I did that, I had to keep my head down. All I ever saw was the floor. It was really depressing looking at the floor all the time."

When practicing baseball, Bray wears a pair of clear glasses, and this fall, he will wear a protective visor on his football helmet.

"I did some research and read an article about a baseball player that lost an eye after being hit by fireworks," Bray said. "He wears a pair of the same glasses. I will have to wear a visor in football so that no turf or anything hits me in the eye."

Mounties football coach Shawn Flannigan is optimistic Bray will be able to help at linebacker this fall.

"He was in the mix right before the season," Flannigan said. "Then something out of his control happens. But I think he will be able to look back on this and say it has probably made him a stronger person having been through this. It was good to have him part of the family, and that would never change."

Bray currently wears a 30-day special lens in his left eye. He may get a more permanent lens inserted this summer, but that procedure may not improve Bray's vision in the injured eye.

"In three months, I may have another surgery where they will put a lens in my eye," Bray said. "But I don't know if we want to do that because it will be my third surgery."

Sports on 03/18/2014