High School

High school baseball team executes perfect trick play in key moment, pulls off big win

Locked in a 7-7 tie, Mississippi high school team uses old trick to escape jam; wins 9-8

Levi Payton

A Mississippi high school baseball team pulled out a trick play at a key moment to escape a jam on Tuesday, then went on to win the game 9-8.
A Mississippi high school baseball team pulled out a trick play at a key moment to escape a jam on Tuesday, then went on to win the game 9-8. / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

It’s a trick that’s as old as the game. But it still works.

On Tuesday, one high school baseball team in Mississippi dug into their bag of tricks and found the perfect one at the right moment to escape a jam. For George County, timely hitting and perfect acting contributed to a 9-8 win over Hancock.

To understand the moment was to understand the game to that point.

Locked in a 7-7 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning, George County (Lucedale) and Hancock (Kiln) had been trading blows all evening. George County drew first blood in the top of the first when Canyon Reeves ripped an RBI single, went to second on an error, stole third and scored on a Tripp Lightsey a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

But Hancock answered with two of its own in the home half of the inning, rallying with two outs on an RBI single by Jude Ulrich and later a wild pitch to tie it 2-2.

George County came right back with three in the third on an RBI double by Lightsey and run-scoring singles by Peyton Havard and Blane Green to make it 5-2, then tacked on another in the fourth on another single by Reeves to make it 6-2.

Having fallen silent from the first inning, Hancock came roaring back to take the lead with five runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Chace Brown and Landon Shields before Roston Ragon cleared the bases with a double to give Hancock a 7-6 lead.

George County got that run right back when Canyon Reeves grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Gavin Reeves to make it 7-7. Hancock escaped a bases-loaded jam to get out of the inning.

And that set up the big moment.

Now on the mound, Canyon Reeves got two quick outs in the bottom of the sixth before surrendering a single and uncorking a wild pitch to allow the runner to move into scoring position. After working the count full, the plan went into motion.

With everyone focused on the big 3-2 pitch, Reeves pivoted toward second and feigned a pickoff throw. In on the trick, shortstop Brodie Cecchi immediately spun toward centerfielder Ben Davis, also in on the ploy, and the trio’s acting skills – pretending to retrieve a baseball that they knew was still in the pitcher’s glove – helped win them the game.

About halfway to third, the runner understood the ruse. Reeves chased him toward the bag, flipped it to third baseman Gavin Reeves, and George County escaped the jam.

The move was legal, if a bit confusing.

George County aced the acting job, then went on to ice the game. Riding the dopamine from pulling off the perfect heist, Cecchi and Green led off the top of the seventh with singles, moved into scoring position on a groundout by Grant Reeves, then scored on a two-run go-ahead single by Bryce O’Neal to make it 9-7.

Canyon Reeves worked around a leadoff double and an error to hold Hancock to one run in the ninth to nail down the win.

George County improved to 16-9. Hancock fell to 11-13.  

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

Levi’s sports journalism career began in 2005. A Missouri native, he’s won multiple Press Association awards for feature writing and has served as a writer and editor covering high school sports as well as working beats in professional baseball, NCAA football, basketball, baseball and soccer. If you have a good story, he’d love to tell it.

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