Sometimes, it takes a little luck and some extraordinary feats to get a single out. And the Iowa Hawkeyes certainly accomplished both against the Michigan State Spartans.
With the Hawkeyes on the mound and the Spartans at-bat in the top of the eighth inning, the batter hit a shot right at the mound that bounced off of Iowa pitcher Ryan Erickson’s hip, only to end up right into the diving glove of infielder Mason McCoy for the 1-4 popup out.
Just an extremely extraordinary 1-4 out in the scorebook… #SCTop10
(via @IowaOnBTN)https://t.co/UZfDVNhbF1
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 15, 2016
Now the real question is which grab would have been better: Erickson’s or McCoy’s? Erickson had a prime opportunity to make an unreal catch of his own, but couldn’t quite pull in the catch himself. Based on the video, Erickson tried to quickly adjust his glove to catch the ball on his hip, but it came in a little too hot and fast for him to pull off what would have been his own highlight. The ricochet did, however, set up his fellow teammate in McCoy to become the recipient of the extraordinary grab to get the out for the Hawkeyes.
Either way, regardless of who made the play at the end, teamwork makes the dream work. Iowa went on to defeat Michigan State 5-1 in lieu of this spectacular play.
