Grant Umbright is the youngest of three brothers to play baseball at Naperville Central.
The senior pitcher is also the smallest.
“Grant is the runt of the group,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock quipped. “They’re both bigger than he is. He’s the mini-Umbright.”
Size, of course, is relative. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Umbright is not small, and neither are his contributions to the Redhawks.
That was made evident by Umbright’s performance in the DuPage Valley Conference Tournament championship game in Naperville on Thursday. The John A. Logan commit belted his third home run of the season to break a scoreless tie and pitched five strong innings to lead the host Redhawks to a 7-2 victory over Neuqua Valley.
“Grant’s our best baseball player,” Stock said. “You want your best players to be your hardest workers and the guys who play the hardest in the game, and Grant is one of the guys who does that.
“It’s important to him, and everyone else answers that call.”
Umbright knows he can call his brothers, Connor and Michael, whenever he needs advice. Both have pitched in college. Umbright also has an older sister, Lauren, who played basketball and volleyball at Naperville Central.
“It teaches me a lot,” Umbright said of being the youngest member of an athletic family. “I’ve been looking up to my brothers and how they played baseball forever.
“They’re way bigger than me. They taught me a lot, especially Michael, about how to play the game and how to be confident in certain situations.”
That paid dividends for Umbright and the Redhawks (25-9) against Neuqua Valley (11-21), which had upset regular-season conference champion Naperville North in the tournament semifinals on Wednesday. Umbright homered to left on a 1-0 pitch leading off the bottom of the second inning.
“I was feeling good hitting toward the end of the year and just came in today looking for something to hit,” he said. “I got my fastball, and I was able put it out. It was great.”
It was the beginning of a great inning for the Redhawks, who scored six runs. Five of them came with two outs as senior left fielder Michael Page smashed a three-run double to right and scored on a single by junior designated hitter Ryan Pall for a 6-0 lead.
Page said Umbright’s home run was the igniter.
“That really fueled the fire, for sure,” Page said. “Once he got that hit, everybody was getting all crazy, and I was able to get up there and clear the bases with that double.”
Umbright said getting a big hit boosts his confidence on the mound.
“After I came in, my adrenaline was high,” he said. “I had more confidence, so it was a good feeling.”
Neuqua Valley scored two runs in the third on two soft singles, a bunt for a hit, a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice bunt. But Umbright (6-1) allowed only two other hits. He walked two and struck out seven.
“A lot of pitchers do lock in offensively when they get a chance to swing and pitch, and Grant is one of those people,” Stock said. “He did the same thing yesterday but hit it to dead center, and the wind held it up. This one he got in a spot the wind couldn’t hold it as much.”
Although Umbright will only pitch in college, he also plays third base for the Redhawks.
“Pitching is my primary, but being able to swing it and play third base keeps me athletic and loose, keeps my arm moving,” he said. “It makes me involved in the team more than if I was just on the mound.”
Genes obviously play a role in Umbright’s success, but they aren’t the only factor.
“It starts with all the work that he put in,” Page said. “He works his butt off. He’s just a great kid all around. He’s one of my best friends on the team.”
Naperville Central, which has won 10 straight, is a team on a roll, and Umbright is having the kind of season his brothers told him was possible. The Redhawks, who are seeded second in the Class 4A Lockport Sectional, will play either 15th-seeded Romeoville or 18th-seeded Bolingbrook in the Naperville Central Regional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“I was talking to them,” Umbright said of his brothers. “They know what I can do, and they told me to just compete. ‘It’s not going to be as hard as you think it will be if you just compete your butt off.’
“That’s what I try and do. I’ve been successful most of the year, so as long as I just keep going out there doing what I can do, it’s going to go well.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
