It appears that the madness in March is not strictly limited to basketball in the world of college sports.
The Tulane Green Wave baseball team took on Xavier over the weekend and found themselves down by two runs in the final frame. With runners on the corners, Tulane’s John Gandolfo ripped a ball into the gap in right-center, scoring one run easily and sending the potential tying-run, teammate Jake Willsey, chugging towards a play at the plate.
The relayed throw beat Willsey by at least a handful of steps, but the sophomore Green Wave infielder got creative and avoided being tagged out by hurdling the catcher in spectacular fashion. As he came down from his leap over the backstop, Willsey actually didn’t even touch the plate but the catcher immediately attempted to sell the tag to the home plate umpire instead of making sure to put the glove on the runner, who scrambled back to touch the dish for the game-tying run.
Big-time mental lapse by the Xavier catcher and his teammates seemed none too pleased about it. I’m sure it didn’t help that the Green Wave would go on to win 3-2 in extra innings.
About Pete Blackburn