HUNTLEY – As Huntley pitcher Cole Raines whiffed three Grayslake North hitters in his one inning April 22 he became engulfed with an unusual calm.

It had nothing to do with his performance. It had everything to do with his mind blocking out the bad thoughts, the flashbacks, the fear from one year ago.

Time, along with mindfulness therapy, was working.

For the first time since May 3, 2016, when Raines was struck in the right ear by a line drive, it felt good to be back on the bump.

“It was the first time in a while I pitched without any fear or flashbacks,” Raines said. “It felt good to be back to, not 100 percent, but closer to 100 than I’ve been.”

One year ago Wednesday, Raines was pitching in the seventh inning of a game against Crystal Lake South when he threw an outside fastball to Gators left-handed hitter Nick Van Witzenburg. That much he remembers. The next thing he recalled was lying on the mound with blood in the dirt and on his cap.

Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski and South’s Brian Bogda agreed to suspend the game and finish the next day, when they were scheduled to play again. Raines was there, with a big Band-Aid covering stitches on his ear and a fractured temporal bone.

The doctor told Raines he was extremely fortunate. The physical aspect, with some good luck, was the easy part. More complicated were the mental issues with getting back to pitching. He struggled with it while pitching for his Pro Player Canes travel team last summer, then still had trouble early this season.

It started with the season opener against Belvidere North on March 21. Raines came in, threw his warm-up pitches, closed his eyes and tried to slow himself down for a moment.

“I opened my eyes and saw the ball in the dirt and the blood on the hat,” Raines said. “After I saw that, my body shut down. I couldn’t tell you what I said or did. I couldn’t remember it. It was a little rough.”

The Raines family sought help from Dr. Steven Johnson, a psychiatrist in Arlington Heights, who diagnosed Raines with post-traumatic stress disorder. The nightmares and the flashbacks were symptoms similar to those displayed by former military personnel after they have been in combat.

“The best way I could describe it is putting someone who’s scared of snakes in a room full of snakes,” said Ken Raines, Cole’s father and a pitching coach at Pro Player Consultants in McHenry. “He wasn’t able to get comfortable on the mound, so rather than keep forcing him out there, we decided the best thing would be to take a break. When he got on the mound, he kept seeing that, and he wasn’t able to focus on pitching.”

Johnson recommended Raines to Dr. Angela Yeates, a licensed clinical professional counselor in Algonquin. Raines told Yeates he had experienced similar problems in the summer, when he would close his eyes after throwing his warm-up pitches, experience a flashback and just shut down.

Now, before Raines goes to bed each night, he performs breathing exercises and kind of “turns everything off.” Yeates calls it his thinking time. He does the same thing before he pitches.

“She calls it grounding,” Raines said. “When I go out there, I think, ‘It’s a new year, you can do this again. You’re going to be healthy.’ She even told me to expect getting hit again, like if you expect getting hit in a car, you’re hyper-aware of it. She said be hyper-aware of a ball coming back and you should be able to field your position.”

Huntley is cruising along at 18-4 overall, 10-2 in the FVC, one game behind Crystal Lake South. Jakubowski hopes to ease Raines, a side-arming right-hander, back into the his bullpen rotation in the final weeks of the season.

Jakubowski said Raines’ injury was the scariest thing he has seen in coaching, by far.

“I still hear that sound in my head,” Jakubowski said. “He’s fighting this. He has a lot of support from his teammates, his coaches, his family and friends. He’s working his way back, and we’re taking him along slowly. He’s doing a tremendous job, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will be back on the mound doing his thing on a regular basis.”

Precisely when that will be is the question. There is no rush, although Raines and his father believe he is turning the corner. Raines will attend Milwaukee School of Engineering next year, where he will major in bio-medical engineering and pitch for the baseball team.

“The goal for me – it’d be great for me to pitch with the guys and contribute – but the goal for me is to pursue my further baseball career (in college),” Raines said. “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, as my doctors have said. Don’t rush into things if you’re not healthy. These guys, the coaches and teammates have been so supportive of me. All the guys at Pro Player, they’ve been pulling for me. We’re enemies on the field (in high school), but off the field they’ve given me so much support. I have to thank those guys.”