Caden Bumb makes key plays with glove, bat for Clyde baseball
Shortstop Caden Bumb scored the won run.
That's right, he scored the only run, in a win. Bumb was the hero Thursday, but the junior knew exactly what put him in position to vault Clyde to a 1-0 victory over Bellevue in a Division II district semifinal at Fremont Ross.
"I would never have been in this situation if not for the great game from Cole [Schwochow] pitching," Bumb said. "One hit and one run is phenomenal. Blake [Hershey] throwing a runner out at second base was a big moment."
Schwochow struck out 10 and walked two to avenge two setbacks to Bellevue during the regular season. He also singled in front of Bumb's walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Bumb, who struck out once, regrouped after obviously disagreeing with the umpire.
"With two strikes on me, the last couple weeks I worked on a no-step approach with two strikes," he said. "The challenge with two strikes is you have one left. You have to put it in play. I trusted my approach and it fell for me."
Hershey's throw to Bumb arrived in plenty of time for the caught stealing.
"A fake bunt threw him off," Clyde coach Drew Linder said of an added variable. "He came up throwing."
Bumb also made a nice throw to Grayson Morgan for a force at second base to end another inning.
Ty Ray struck out nine and walked two while allowing four hits in 6⅔ innings. Mason Gurney and Morgan each collected a single and Flewelling and Gurney each drew a walk.
"He's a great pitcher," Bumb said. "He throws hard. He has a good slider. Put it in play. I shortened up my swing to go right to the ball. My swing was long early in the year and I was late to the fastball."
Bumb played second base last season. He's climbed to second in the batting order.
"Going deep in at-bats, putting the ball in play and getting on base," he said.
He gained Linder's trust. Look at him now.
"He progressively put better at-bats together," Linder said. "He draws walks with a great eye for the zone. He battled off a two-strike pitch to win us the game."
mhorn@gannett.com
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Twitter: @MatthewHornNH
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Caden Bumb plays key role as Clyde baseball advances to district final
