Video of Eastside Catholic baseball player Zach Sanidad jumping over a catcher goes viral, makes ESPN's top plays

A video of an Eastside Catholic High School baseball player's acrobatic game-winning maneuver at home plate became a top-10 play on ESPN's SportsCenter on April

Andy Buhler, SBLive Sports | Apr 30, 2019

Video of Eastside Catholic baseball player Zach Sanidad jumping over a catcher goes viral, makes ESPN's top plays /

A video of an Eastside Catholic High School baseball player's acrobatic game-winning maneuver at home plate became a top-10 play on ESPN's SportsCenter on April 25.

Without a little bit of rebellion, the play would have never happened.

Wait for it 😮 #SCtop10 (via @ECCrusaders) pic.twitter.com/L4f7I1xBkQ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 25, 2019

Senior Zach Sanidad, a University of Oregon commit, flipped over the opposing catcher to score after a line drive to right field by Connor Niemann with runners on first and second.

After the first runner, freshman Drew Sanidad, scored, the throw to home plate from right field got to the catcher with enough time for him to lunge to tag Zach Sanidad.

But since he had already begun to slide into home, he vaulted over the catcher's outstretched glove, contorting himself to avoid being tagged out and was ruled safe upon touching home. The run gave the Crusaders a 13-3 lead, which secured the win via a 10-run mercy rule.

Zach Sanidad's decision to head home went against his coach's third base orders.

"He ran through the stop sign, he shouldn’t have even have gone,” Eastside Catholic coach Kyle Larsen said. "But to be honest, that's Zach.

"He has unbelievable baseball instinct and it’s so easy to coach him. He’s been doing it since day one."

Zach Sanidad is a four-year starter at short stop for the Crusaders.

Having Drew Sanidad, Zach's freshman brother who was making his first start, move the bat out of the way to clear home plate after scoring to make way for his brother was the icing on the cake, Larsen said.

The Eastside Catholic athletics Twitter account sent the video to ESPN's SportsCenter account on Wednesday, April 24. On Thursday morning, the popular sports highlight show

Wait for it 😮 #SCtop10 (via @ECCrusaders) pic.twitter.com/L4f7I1xBkQ

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 25, 2019

">reposted it to its more than 35 million followers. By early afternoon Thursday, the post garnered nearly 1,000 retweets.

Eastside Catholic is currently 15-3 overall and in fourth place (11-3) in the 3A Metro League.

Published Apr 30, 2019

ANDY BUHLER, SBLIVE SPORTS

Andy Buhler is a Regional Editor of Texas and the national breaking news desk. He brings more than five years of experience covering high school sports across the state of Washington and beyond, where he covered the likes of Paolo Banchero and Tari Eason served on state tournament seeding committees. He works on the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national boys basketball rankings. He has covered everything from the Final Four, MLS in Atlanta to local velodrome before diving into the world of preps. His bylines can be found in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), The Associated Press, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), The Oregonian and more. He holds a degree from Gonzaga and is based out of Portland, Oregon.