Audio By Carbonatix
West Virginia trailed UCF by one run during the seventh inning of their college baseball matchup in Orlando on Saturday night. The Mountaineers went on to win by five after the Knights committed one of the worst errors you will ever see.
It completely changed the momentum of the game!
Our story begins during the top of the seventh inning. West Virginia currently sits atop the Big 12 as the No. 17-ranked team in college baseball. UCF is unranked near the bottom of the conference standings.
The latter held a one-run lead over the former with only one out in the top of half of the seventh by a score of 7-6. The Mountaineers had a runner on first.
To reiterate: there was only one out on the board. The Knights needed to record two additional outs to get out of the inning. Not one. Two!
West Virginia utility infielder Sam White dug back into the box with a 2-0 count. UCF pitcher Angelo Smith delivered the pitch to contact, which resulted in an easy ground ball over to first base.
The grounder was fielded cleanly. Smith hustled over to the bag to beat White for out number two.
There was only one problem. Smith thought it was out number three. He turned back to chirp at White as he walked back to his dugout and flipped the baseball back toward the mound. It was a live ball!!!
Meanwhile, as the ball laid in the grass, the Mountaineers’ baserunner turned around third and beat the run to the plate to record the game-tying run. And if that was not weird enough, White casually sprinted right through the middle of the infield as the play continued.
Here is how it all went down in real time:
One single run during the seventh inning does not determine the outcome of a college baseball game that finished with a final score of 15-10. West Virginia might’ve gone on to beat UCF anyway.
However, it was one of the most embarrassing errors I have ever seen. The momentum completely swung in favor of the visitors. The Mountaineers tied the game because of the Knights’ blunder and went on to win the series. Tough scene.