Pilots' Phenom Always Drawn to Diamond
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
April 19, 2018
WARREN – Baseball, at its core, is a simple game. Throw a baseball, try to hit it and then catch it.
And that was more than enough to hook Bryce Bush.
“Baseball was first,” Bush said when asked which sport initially grabbed his attention. “My dad got me started. I was 3 years old. We’d always hit, play catch. Everyday. I just liked it.”
Bush has been all in ever since. One of four underclassmen selected to the 2017 all-state Dream Team by the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association, Bush is a 6-foot, 205-pound infielder at Warren DeLaSalle. He started at first and third base his sophomore season and played those two positions plus outfield last year before moving to shortstop this spring.
“I’m the best athlete on the team,” he said. “I’m used to it. It used to be my primary position. At shortstop, you’re in control of the whole infield. (Playing) third base was harder. You have to come in on balls, and that throw (down the line) is one of the hardest to make.”
For some, the transition would be a difficult challenge. But Bush, 18, isn’t your typical high school player. He has all the tools. He can run, hit for power and field his position. Pencil him in anywhere, and he’ll succeed.
Bush said he’ll likely play third base or right field at the next level. Just where at the next level has yet to be determined. He signed with Mississippi State University, and it’s likely he’ll be selected in the Major League Amateur Draft in June.
Where he’s headed next will be decided at a later date, and Bush said he doesn’t think about it that much. He said there were 10 major league scouts at his last game.
“I have no clue at all," he said of which round he'll be selected. “(The scouts) try to make it as hard as possible trying to figure it out. It’s really no big deal. I have a good backup plan.”
Until then, Bush’s focus is on this season and what he can do to make himself a better player while helping his team any way he can. Last season the Pilots reached a Regional Semifinal before losing to Sterling Heights Stevenson, 5-4. In 2016, DeLaSalle won the school’s fourth baseball Finals championship as the Pilots defeated Saline, 7-6, in the Division 1 championship game.
Bush and the other 15 returning players from last season have a new coach. Dave Zelmanski, a 1974 DeLaSalle grad, was hired after Matt Cook left the program to take over at Grandville.
Zelmanski had never met Bush before last fall. The new coach was a pretty good player in his day, having played four seasons at Wayne State University – but he said Bush is special. Zelmanski compares his introduction to Bush to when he was invited to a Detroit Red Wings practice about 15 years ago before he became a sales representative.
“I was working at Chrysler at the time,” Zelmanski said. “And I’m meeting guys like (Joey) Kocur, (Brendan) Shanahan and others. Then I saw (Steve) Yzerman. He was it. Just the way he carried himself. When I went to meet the (DeLaSalle) team, I saw Bryce, and he was it.
“I was talking with Jake Badalamenti, he’s one of our better players and he was part of the state championship team for football. He was in the (batting) cage, and I asked him where Bryce was. Jake takes me aside and he put his hands at his chest and said, ‘Coach we’re all here, the rest of us.’ Then he raised his hands over his head and said, ‘That’s where Bryce is.’
“(Bryce) is as quiet as a church mouse. He’s the nicest kid. And there isn’t anything he does that the other guys can do.”
Bush has what some call “God-given” talent. And it’s easy to see why.
His father, Elwood Bush III, grew up on Detroit’s west side and played baseball at Detroit Cooley. He went on to play at Hinds Community College in Mississippi and on the National JUCO championship team in 1989. Bush’s uncle, Ricky Bush, played at Jackson State, and his grandfather also played baseball.
Bush also has a brother, Ryan, 25, who chose basketball and was a good player at Berkley High.
Bryce Bush played basketball too but stopped after his freshman year to concentrate on the diamond.
In addition to his natural abilities, Bush is determined to out-work the competition. He works at his trade six days a week, taking Sundays off. He’ll run a half mile or so to begin his workouts before going into light stretching and then a more strenuous stretching exercise called dynamic warm-up. Many of these stretching exercises focus on his legs and arms.
He’ll then work on his footwork and field ground balls for 20 minutes or so.
He ends his training hitting with his teammates or, if he’s alone, in a batting cage. He’ll use a 35-ounce bat at the start to get loose, then go to his favorite wooden bat. Hitting alone takes an hour.
“I remember when I was 3, maybe 4 years old,” Bush said. “And I’d use a toy golf club and just start swinging it. I hit a wall with it sometimes.
“Honestly, I like everything about baseball. The best feeling is, of course, hitting a home run.”
Last season Bush hit 16 home runs to go with a .541 batting average. Through five games this season, he’s hit just one home run – but it was a memorable one against Birmingham Brother Rice.
“The wind was blowing in hard,” Zelmanski said. “Nobody was going to hit one out that day, and (Bush) just crushed one. I mean, it’s hard to say how far it went over the fence, but it had to go 20 or 30 feet beyond. Nobody could believe he hit it that far.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren DeLaSalle’s Bryce Bush applies a tag against Lake Orion. (Middle) Bush, after playing a variety of positions over the last two seasons, will line up primarily at shortstop this spring. (Photos courtesy of the Warren DeLaSalle baseball program.)
Inspired Norway Earns 1st Finals Trip, Set to Face Reigning Champ Beal City
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2024
EAST LANSING – Cameron Varda’s go-ahead single scoring Ian Popp with two out in the sixth inning Friday may have been the greatest moment in Norway’s brief 15-year history as a high school baseball program.
It lifted the Knights to a 3-2 victory over Marine City Cardinal Mooney in an MHSAA Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s McLane Stadium.
That may not have been the best moment of the day, however. Coach Tony Adams had a surprise for his team, which hails from the western edge of the Upper Peninsula near the Wisconsin border.
U.P. legend Jason Whitens, a 2017 Powers North Central alumnus who led the Jets to three Division 4 basketball titles and two 8-player football championships, was on hand for the game and spoke to the Norway team after the program’s first Semifinal appearance.
Whitens played basketball for Michigan State after beginning his career at Western Michigan. He’s now an assistant strength coach for the MSU men’s basketball team.
“That’s Jason. I worked at North Central for a couple of years and I became really good friends with his mom and dad, Gerald and Faye, and that’s the kind of kid they raised. Back home, he’s larger than life,” Adams said. “I knew he was going to be here and I said, ‘Hey, will you say a few words?’ because I knew he would. I thought it was a phenomenal moment for our kids.”
Norway (28-3-1) is looking to make the weekend even more memorable as it faces perennial power and reigning champion Beal City (33-6) in Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. Final. Beal City defeated Vermontville Maple Valley, 5-1, in Friday’s first Semifinal.
With Norway and Cardinal Mooney (23-11) tied at 2 in the sixth inning and two out, Knights No. 9 hitter Popp singled up the middle. He attempted to steal second base, and as the ball skidded to the backstop on a wild pitch, he never stopped running and made it safely to third base. Leadoff batter Varda delivered a line single to center field to give Norway the lead.
Starter Cole Baij worked the sixth inning for the Knights, and Owen Baij closed it out in the seventh.
“I started off with a single with two outs. I wasn’t really thinking of it, but (my coach) gave me the steal sign and I was going and I looked at him and he said to keep going, so I thought Cameron put the ball in play and had a nice hit,” Popp said. “He told me to slide and I slid and turns out, the ball just went behind the catcher. All in all, it worked out very well.”
Said Varda: “I was just thinking, ‘Put the ball in play, score the runner on third.’ I just did a short swing, put the ball in play, and scored him.”
Norway got bats on the ball throughout its lineup, finishing with nine hits total. Owen Baij and Alex Ortman had two hits apiece.
Cole Baij earned the pitching win for Norway. The right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits with three strikeouts and four walks over six innings. Owen Baij allowed one hit and struck out one with no walks in his one inning to pick up the save.
Mason Martin took the loss for Cardinal Mooney in relief of George Szep. Martin allowed one earned run on four hits with one strikeout and no walks in two innings.
Cameron Spezia went 2-for-4 to lead the Cardinals.
“It’s hard, but it comes down to they executed more plays than we did and that’s how they won the baseball game,” Cardinal Mooney coach David Bowen said. “It just comes down to execution; that’s why you play a baseball game. They understand. They don’t like it, but they understand.”
Whitens delivered an inspirational message to Norway’s team, proving that “U.P. Power” still runs strong.
He said that Yooper pride definitely is a real thing.
“We’re such a strong community when you look at it. We’re such a small community when you look at it,” Whitens said.
“I grew up 15 minutes from Norway. There’s a lot of ties, a lot of my good friends are from Norway, a lot of my dad’s friends are from Norway, so there’s a lot of close ties. Whenever you see a U.P. school competing for a championship down here, you’re always pulling for them. Those ‘U.P. Power’ chants never get old in my head.”
The Norway players and coaches, who used to cheer for Whitens, now find him pulling for them – and it couldn’t be cooler for the Knights.
“It was really cool (with Whitens’ speech) because when we were younger and we were growing up and we were watching him play and everybody in the U.P. knew who he was, and to see what he did in his journey, it was awesome,” Popp said. “And now that he can speak to us and give us some wisdom, it’s very cool.”
Beal City 5, Vermontville Maple Valley 1
The Beal City baseball machine operated in top form Friday morning at McLane Stadium.
Seven players had hits, the defense made a couple of highlight-worthy plays to prevent a big inning, and Josh Wilson was effective on the mound.
Beal City (33-6) is seeking a second straight Division 4 title and sixth overall. Maple Valley, which made its first Semifinal appearance in 49 years, closed the season 29-8.
“It’s these guys. It’s a testament to these guys – these guys just play good ball and they’re good kids with great families and a great program. They bought into my style of baseball, and they’ve done a great job with it,” said Beal City coach Brad Antcliff, who returned to the team last season after stepping away from 2017-2022 to focus on his daughters and their softball teams.
Beal City wasted no time taking the upper hand against Maple Valley. After Wilson retired the Lions in order in the top of the first inning, the Aggies went to work in the bottom half scoring three runs without making an out.
Cayden Smith led off with a double to right field. He took third on a passed ball and scored on the same play with a head-first slide at home after the ball got away from the Lions’ catcher.
Jack Fussman’s triple into the right-field corner scored Owen McKenney, who had walked. Wilson followed with a double to center field to score Fussman.
Beal City hit throughout its lineup and continued to keep the heat on Maple Valley pitcher Jakeb McDonald. Jake Gauthier also doubled for the Aggies.
“The bottom half of the order has come up huge in the playoffs so far, and it puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher to take every batter seriously,” said Wilson, who led the Aggies with two RBIs.
Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-handed senior, took care of business on the mound, too. He allowed one unearned run on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in a complete-game effort. Wilson (8-3) also retired the Lions in order in the sixth and seventh innings.
“I felt good. First couple innings, I was struggling a little bit, couldn’t really get in the zone,” said Wilson, a four-year varsity player. “Found it and the defense played good behind me.”
Teegan McDonald led Maple Valley, going 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the fourth inning that pulled the Lions within 3-1. In the fifth, Beal City right fielder Bennett Gilde made a nice, sliding catch near the line to start the top half of the inning, and second baseman Cuyler Smith made a leaping snag of a line drive to end it.
The Lions had grown accustomed to winning close games and comebacks during the tournament, taking them by 3-2, 5-4, and 4-2 counts in two Regional contests and a Quarterfinal. They kept battling against the Aggies but could not come back this time.
“We know it takes 21 outs to finish a game, and we’re going to fight through every one of them,” Maple Valley coach Bryan Carpenter said. “I hope (the Semifinal experience) makes them hungry. I hope they now have a belief that this is possible and that we can do this on the regular. This doesn’t have to be once-in-every-49-years kind of thing for Maple Valley.”
Antcliff is seeking his fourth Finals championship as Beal City’s baseball coach. He also guided the Aggies to titles in 2009 and 2010. This is his eighth 30-win season in 12 years at the helm.
Beal City has been a model of consistency over the years. Friday’s game showed some reasons why that is the case.
“Our 1 through 9 are solid. We may not swing it every time and great at-bats, but at any time I feel like we can have nine base hits in a row. We do the little things right, getting bunts down and stuff, and that’s a testament to these guys and buying into (the culture),” said Antcliff, who expects his team will need more of the same to add another championship Saturday.
“Win the first pitch … We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game and see what happens.”
PHOTOS (Top) Norway’s Cole Baij delivers a pitch during his team’s Division 4 Semifinal win Friday at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Beal City’s Cayden Smith scores under the tag of Maple Valley’s Jakeb McDonald (18).