It was what coach Gary Adams called “the most unusual play
I’ve seen in 44 years of coaching.”
In the bottom of the seventh inning of the UCLA baseball
team’s game Friday against Arizona State, catcher Chris
Denove hit a long fly to right field with third baseman Brandon
Averill on third and first baseman Wes Whisler on first.
ASU right-fielder Travis Buck went back to the wall and
leaped.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that it was a home
run,” Adams said. “It was three feet over the
outfielder’s glove. But he jumped onto the fence and was
hanging over it, and the ball hit the blue dumpster behind the
right field wall and bounced back to him.
“We even have accounts from players on (Buck’s) team
who told our players.”
Buck then climbed down the fence, and to everyone’s
surprise, threw the ball back to the infield.
Averill and Whisler had circled the bases after the umpire in
the outfield had signaled a home run. The Sun Devils tagged third
and second, and suddenly a three-run home run had turned into a
rare triple play.
Adams, like everyone else in the park, was perplexed.
“When the ball bounced into the right fielder’s
glove, there was a 10-second delay until he threw the ball into the
infield, so we thought we had a three-run home run,” he
said.
“The same umpire who called it a home run said the runner
didn’t tag up. But that’s impossible for him to know
unless he has two eyes in the back of his head,” Adams
said.
In the end, the Bruins lost 12-4, so the play likely did not
sway the outcome of the game.
Still, when a man with Adams’ long career makes a
statement about seeing something he has never seen before, the game
is certainly noteworthy.