Indiana State left fielder Adam Pottinger couldn’t help himself from playing a little in-game prank on Iowa’s Brayden Frazier. And it nearly ended up working better than Pottinger could have imagined.
First, we have to go back to Saturday’s regional matchup between the Hawkeyes and Sycamores. In that game, which Indiana State won, Frazier hit a deep fly ball to left-center field, and Pottinger made a spectacular leaping effort to rob the Iowa right fielder of a home run.
Fast forward to Sunday’s game between the two teams, and Pottinger had another chance to rob Frazier of a home run in nearly the same spot. This time, the ball cleared Pottinger’s glove and the fence. But Pottinger decided to play it off like he had caught the ball.
The left fielder pretends to rob a home run and EVERYONE believes it 😠pic.twitter.com/MTxQy7Fir1
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 5, 2023
OK, that’s pretty funny. It might not have been the best sportsmanship, but Frazier’s reaction made the prank worth it.
Frazier was also lucky his teammates noticed the fake-out and stopped him from returning to the dugout because he technically could have been ruled out if he made it much further and abandoned the base path. With no outs in the inning, Pottinger wasn’t going to be able to completely get away with the trickery. But could you imagine if he tried that on a would-be third out? I would’ve loved to see how that could have played out.
Still, you don’t see an outfielder try to do that very often. Fans had plenty of thoughts on the prank.