There aren’t a lot of plays in baseball more exciting than a putout from the outfield. Indeed, Ichiro Suzuki made it one of the most iconic plays in baseball. So many things have to go right. Just ask Dasan Harris of Oklahoma.
After Oklahoma took a 2-0 lead in the road half of the second inning of June 22’s decisive College World Series Game 3, the Tar Heels were threatening to answer with runners on first and second and two outs. Rom Kellis V drove a pitch from Nick Wesloski the opposite way that was fielded by Harris, and rather than going home to try and save a run, Harris instead threw a rocket to third.
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES UPDATES: UNC vs Oklahoma baseball Game 3 score, highlights
The ball was fielded clean on a hop by Cam Johnson, who applied the tag to Carter French to get the Sooners out of the inning. Exacerbating the out for North Carolina, French was tagged out before Erik Paulsen crossed home plate, sending the Tar Heels out of the inning empty-handed despite a challenge from Scott Forbes that confirmed the timing.
Harris, a former walk-on, even got another angle of the throw posted.
It’s a championship game where every run and every out will matter, so we’ll see how big of a difference that throw ends up making. But there’s no question Wesloski was happy for the help, and for the fortunate break that Paulsen was just a little bit behind the throw to third.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dasan Harris guns down Carter French to save run for Oklahoma in CWS
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