Cherryville baseball’s Brock Bumgardner hurls a playoff no-hitter
Cherryville baseball’s Brock Bumgardner hurled a no-hitter in his team’s 6-0 win over Langtree Charter in the second round of the NCHSAA 1A playoffs.
CHERRYVILLE — Awfully wary of not letting his toe touch the base line on his way back to the dugout, a certain air of confidence Friday night allowed Cherryville baseball standout Brock Bumgardner to let at least one of the sport’s unwritten rules go by the wayside.
“(Langtree Charter) can’t hit me. I’m going to get this no-hitter,” Bumgardner said in the Ironmen dugout as his team batted in the sixth. “No doubt, I’m getting it.”
Bumgardner proved a man of his word, shutting down Langtree Charter’s half of the seventh and earning a no-hitter as part of Cherryville’s 6-0 win in the NCHSAA 1A playoffs.
“I think in this sport, you just have to have confidence,” the Ironmen pitcher said. “I knew we were going to hit and I knew we’re going to put runs on the board, and as soon as (the Ironmen lineup) gave me the lead I knew it was over.”
Bumgardner finished with 104 pitches, one below the maximum allowed by NCHSAA rules. He struck out 10 and walked three, with another Langtree Charter batter reaching via error in the first.
Lion starter pitcher Aiden Gelpke was strong much of the night, limiting a deep Cherryville lineup to one run through four innings. The Ironmen broke things open in the fifth, manufacturing a run following a Davin Digh base hit to start the inning, with Bumgardner helping himself later with a two-run homer over the right field wall.
“I was so hyped,” Bumgardner said. “My coach told me to sit on a curve ball the first pitch, I absolutely murdered it. I was so excited.”
Along with Bumgardner’s stellar pitching effort, Kenan Fowler was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Talon Dalton finished 2-for-3 with a triple and a run.
“Hats off to (Langtree Charter), their pitcher was good,” said Cherryville coach Scott Heavner. “The take was they had some good pitching, and that’s kind of where (Southern Piedmont 1A/2A) and its pitching really helps us, especially toward the end of the season. I’d have liked to see us get it going a little earlier, but it’s win and advance this time of year and I’ll take it.”
The top seed in the 1A West bracket, Cherryville will host No. 8 Hayesville in a regional quarterfinal matchup Tuesday night.
