Last weekend, the Texas Tech baseball team held a 7-0 lead over West Virginia in the top of the eighth inning during their Big 12 matchup in Morgantown. Despite all of the offense up to that point, the play of the game wasn't made on the field.
Texas Texas infielder Jace Jung ripped a foul ball into the broadcast booth and Texas Tech radio announcer Geoff Haxton made the play of the day. Haxton snagged the ball bare-handed while he was calling the game.
#NCAABaseball Plays of the Week ⚾️
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) April 21, 2021
1️⃣ | @TTU_Baseball radio play-by-play broadcaster Geoff Haxton made a one-handed catch with his bare hand on a foul ball into the booth. ✋ pic.twitter.com/ze2wgSb7cS
As Haxton was making the call, he even said that the ball was "coming right at us" before he made the sensational grab. The Red Raiders radio announcer did admit that his hand hurt quite a bit after making the impressive catch.
"It hurt really bad for two hours afterwards and then the swelling just kind of went down," Haxton told Slate.com. "It ended up being really fun. I caught the thing mostly with my left index finger, that's where the pop really happened. But it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It hurt terribly."
This is why many people, adults included, take gloves to baseball games in the hopes of catching a foul ball. It's certainly not an exact science and sometimes you just happen to be at the right place at the right time. Fortunately for Haxton, his eyes were straight ahead and focusing on the incoming ball.