When Case Bosch met a professional baseball player at age 7, the course of his life changed dramatically.
“He played baseball as a career and I was like ‘that’s what I want to do,’” Bosch said about his experience with Robbie Ray, a current pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.
More than a decade later, the recent Jenison Innovation Academy graduate has developed into a 6’5” pitching force that is closer to his major league dreams.
The road to get here wasn’t easy, Bosch said, but the hard work has paid off.
“That freshman to sophomore year I started really training harder, made a big velo jump (pitching speed), and that’s when I knew that I am like ‘ok this is going to be a reality,’” he said about playing in college.
Soon Bosch was an all-state pitcher for the Jenison baseball team. He was selected to the Division 1 Michigan High School All-Star team this season and is ranked 57th nationally among left-handed pitchers, according to the Perfect Game Web site.
“Big and strong athletic build, has a clean and fluid delivery that he repeats well,” the Perfect Game wrote about him in their recruiting profile.
After considering many scholarship offers, Bosch committed to play Division 1 college baseball for Coastal Carolina, the national runner-up in this summer’s College World Series. The team had a 26-game winning streak before losing to LSU in the series finale.
“I knew I was going to be part of a championship program. I didn’t really think it was going to be this high level of a championship program yet,” he said with a smile. “But it was awesome …I just want to go back (to the College World Series). I don’t want them to have all the fun and not me.”
Despite his excitement for college, Bosch said he cherished his time at Jenison. He felt welcome right away.
“This team embraced me as a person and a player,” he said. “Most importantly they let me be who I am.”
Some of his favorite memories from the baseball team included past spring break trips and the times the team defeated their fierce rival, Hudsonville.
“This is a family here,” Bosch said. “I am going to miss all the guys that I played with. I enjoyed every day being out here.”