Amateur baseball player makes ingenious play to avoid potential double play

You never know what you might see on a baseball field. 

Duluth Huskies third baseman Ethan Surowiec fielded a groundball, as a baserunner, during the team’s 5-4 win over the La Crosse Loggers on Tuesday at Wade Stadium in Duluth, Minnesota. 

The bases were loaded in the bottom of the inning with one out, and the Huskies were up to bat. Surowiec was the runner on second base when a ground ball was hit to Loggers shortstop Mikey Ryan III. 

After the ball was hit, Surowiec took a couple of steps to his right and fielded the ball himself, like a shortstop, instead of letting it through to the actual shortstop, Ryan, to avoid a potential double-play. 

“Oh my goodness, I have never seen that on a baseball field,” the announcer said. 

“Ethan Surowiec picked up the baseball (and) purposefully gave himself up.”

The umpires deemed the play a “fielder’s choice 6,” which allowed for the bases to remain loaded. The runner on third base remained, while the runner on first base advanced to second base, and the batter went to first base.

Surowiec’s quick-thinking gave the Huskies a chance to capitalize, as giving himself up allowed the inning to continue. 

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However, according to the Baseball Rules Academy, the umpires got the call wrong. Rule 6.01(a)(6) states that both Surowiec and the batter should have been ruled out. 

“If, in the judgment of the umpire, a baserunner willfully and deliberately interferes with a batted ball or a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play, the ball is dead. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. In no event may bases be run or runs scored because of such action by a runner,” the rule states, according to the Baseball Rules Academy. 

If the umpires had enforced the rule according to what the Baseball Rules Academy stated, both Surowiec and the batter would have been called out to end the inning.

Surowiec’s seemingly ingenious play would have resulted in the same outcome he was trying to prevent: an inning-ending double play. His deliberate play to interfere with the baseball ended up as a moot point, as designated hitter Paul Gutierrez Contreras then hit a flyout to right field and stranded the three runners. 

The Huskies improved to 3-1 with the win, and they sit atop the Great Plans East division in the Northwoods League, while the Loggers fell to 2-2 with the loss. 

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