Marion Local High School centerfielder Griffin Burns made one of the best hustle plays you will ever see during an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV baseball playoff game on Friday.
With his team trailing Fort Recovery High School 11-3 in the top of the sixth inning, Burns raced from centerfield all the way home to tag out the batter just before the hitter reached the plate. You can watch the incredible play below.
As you can see, the play started with the Fort Recovery batter hitting a bloop single to center field. The Marion Local second baseman, shortstop and centerfielder Griffin Burns all came running after the baseball, which landed in between the three defenders.
Because the second baseman and shortstop were in the outfield, no one was left to cover second base, allowing the batter to race to second before anyone could get there.
The Marion Local third baseman took off for second to try to beat the Fort Recovery batter there, but he didn’t and in the process left third base open. The catcher was trying to cover third, but the batter beat him to third, too, leaving home plate open.
That left Griffin Burns with no choice but to take matters into his own hands. With no one covering home, Burns sprinted and ended up tagging the batter out at the plate after starting with the baseball in center field.
According to MLB.com, Caden Grisez was the Fort Recovery hitter on the play. Even though it didn’t work out for him, Grisez showed off some heads up base running by taking advantage of the open bags to nearly score.
Despite the impressive play by Griffin Burns, Marion Local did fall 11-3 to Fort Recovery High, per MLB.com. With the win, Fort Recovery advanced to the Division IV Regional baseball semifinals.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association baseball playoffs aren’t the only postseason baseball tournaments happening at the moment.
At the college level, conference tournaments are taking place around the country, including with the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12.
College baseball conference tournaments will wrap up this weekend, before Selection Monday takes place in a couple of days.
The NCAA Baseball Tournament then begins next Friday with 64 teams in the field. There will be 16 host sites, with each site hosting a regional. There will be four teams in each regional, and the winner of the regional will advance to the Super Regionals.
The winners of the Super Regionals will reach the College World Series, which is slated to be played June 14-24 in Omaha, Nebraska.
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