Jake Luxemburger’s baseball team looks to play in his honor Friday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A community is mourning after the death of an Oldham County fifth grader, and his loved ones are looking for a way to honor his life.

Jake John Lewis Luxemburger IV was killed when someone hit the car he was riding in during a police chase on I-71 Saturday.

His visitation and funeral services are Wednesday and Thursday, but his baseball team has plans to remember him on Friday.

The Lyndon Bananas last played Friday night and while they didn’t know it at the time, it would be the last time they got to play with their brother Jake.

Almost a week later, the Bananas are going to play in his honor and memorialize him in a way they feel will make him proud.

For their coach, Jonathan Moore, Saturday was a day he said he would never forget.

Fresh off a Friday night win with his team, he noticed he had several missed calls from one of his assistants, Trey Luxemburger.

When he called him back, he heard news that he couldn’t believe, Jake was dead.

Moore said he initially thought Luxemburger was playing a sick joke on him but quickly realized the awful news was true.

“I said what’s going on man, and he said, ‘Bro, I’m not joking my baby boy is gone,’” Moore said. “He’s gone. I’m never going to get to see him again. He’s gone.”

Moore, devastated by the news, told his family and then called each one of his players’ parents to tell them Jake Luxemburger died in a car accident during a police pursuit.

News that hit each member as if they lost one of their own.

Hearing about Jake is a tough pill to swallow for anyone, but especially for grade school kids.

Jake was described as a kid who hated losing and would do anything for his teammates.

So much so that in his last game, two of his teammates hit their first-ever home run, and he went to retrieve the ball from the woods to get it to them.

Moore said he was the type of person that just made everyone else around him happier.

Now, the team is tasked with a game Friday that not many of them want to play, but Jake’s family said their competitive son wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Okay, if we’re going to play, the boys are just going to be grieving and go out there and play a game,” Moore said. “But it was the game that he loved and the game they loved together. Then I told them, I said if we’re going to play, we’re going to make this event the best event we can possibly do to honor Jake.”

So Friday at 6 p.m. on field six at the Lyndon Recreation Association, Moore invites any and everyone to join the team for a moment of silence, prayer and a special unveiling in center field where Jake was always positioned.

Giving those who loved him a chance to make sure his name lasts forever, the way he always wanted.

“Come out Friday night and support Jake and his family and his teammates because that’s what he would want,” Moore said.

Coach Moore said Jake has always wanted to be famous so Friday, on field six at the Lyndon Recreational Complex, the team plans to unveil a new sign to make sure his dream comes true.

With Jake’s birthday being on Monday, his school, Kenwood Station Elementary, is asking for students and staff to wear red in his honor.

If you’d like to help the family with funeral expenses, you can donate to their GoFundMe by clicking or tapping here.

Moore suggests that anyone looking to come to Friday’s game brings their own lawn chairs as a lot of people are expected to attend.

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