We’ve seen it many, many times in baseball: A player forgets how many outs there are and tosses the ball to fans, or gently throws it back into the infield.
Sometimes, it’s a costly error.
But in the case of Sunday’s Virginia game against Pitt, it actually worked out!
In what ended up being a 4-1 loss, Virginia turned a terrific double play with a step-on-home-throw-to-first move. But first basemen Devin Ortiz thought it was out No. 3, so he tossed the ball toward the mound and began to walk off the field.
And then he realized it was two outs and the Pitt runner at third was coming home … so he ran, grabbed the ball and threw out the runner for a VERY unconventional triple play:
𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗔 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬!!!
Hoos escaped a bases loaded jam unscathed in the 5th!
📺 @accnetwork | #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/l4vlB6vW0U
— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) April 17, 2022
A bizarre triple play, as called on Virginia Sports Radio: pic.twitter.com/mtvyXtBuqS
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 17, 2022
WOW. That worked out, and I bet Ortiz will never forget how many outs there are again.
