Robbing a home run is every outfielder's dream, and sometimes that dream becomes reality. For one Indiana State baseball player, though, he'll have to keep dreaming.
The Terre Haute (Indiana) Regional for college baseball took place over the weekend as competing teams vied for a spot in the NCAA tournament's super regionals. Two of those teams included the Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana State Sycamores — the latter of which also included a prankster in the outfield.
The Sycamores — who hosted the game after going 42-15 during the season and winning the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament — took down Wright State and Iowa in their first two games, earning them another game against Iowa to advance.
As one can imagine, Sunday's game was filled with much pressure on both sides. The Sycamores were up 11-7 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Iowa's Brayden Frazier came to the plate.
The count reached 2-2 before Frazier hit a bomb to left-center field. Indiana State left fielder Adam Pottinger leaped up for the ball at the wall. At first, it looked as though Pottinger robbed Frazier of a home run, even going so far as to trot back toward the dugout afterward.
But with no outs and no ball to throw back into the field of play, the jig soon was up for a smiling Mr. Pottinger, who fooled everyone in the park.
The left fielder pretends to rob a home run and EVERYONE believes it ? pic.twitter.com/MTxQy7Fir1
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 5, 2023
The homer ultimately cut the Iowa deficit to three runs, but it stayed that way as the Sycamores advanced.
What's wild is that just the game before against Iowa, Pottinger actually reeled in a similar catch in his team's 7-4 win. It even made the Top 10 on ESPN's "SportsCenter."
At this point, you might as well just have an @adam_pottinger section on #SCTop10
He made sure the fun was NOT spoiled at The Bob last night and came in at No. 4 on the top plays#MarchOn pic.twitter.com/nHW6i83sra
— Indiana State Baseball (@IndStBaseball) June 4, 2023
Hopefully, everyone can view this as a fun prank. However, it does make you wonder: If there were two outs, could he have pulled this off? Have other players ever done this? Maybe he should keep a ball in his back pocket so he can actually pull this off next time.
Either way, it was a fun, hilarious moment during an otherwise super serious situation.
