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WVU Baseball, Grant Hussey Go Viral for Heads Up Play

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3 weeks ago

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WVU Baseball Grant Hussey tosses a ball away as WVU played against North Carolina on June 8, 2024, in the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. (Mitchell Northam / WV Sports Now)
Mitchell Northam / WVSN

They may not be a blue blood program in the same vein as USC, LSU or Texas, but that hasn’t prevented WVU Baseball from turning into a media darling in recent years.

First was their viral — and unexpected — friendship with the softball team at Iowa State, a traditional Big 12 foe, which made headlines around the college sports landscape in 2023. Now, the Mountaineers (and especially first baseman Grant Hussey) are back in the media spotlight after a heads-up play during their 16-inning marathon against Arizona on Friday, March 21.

Since time immemorial, a baseball diamond has possessed four bases: first, second, third and home plate. That changed for college baseball this season with the advent of the safety bag, an additional base in foul territory adjacent to first base that gives batters busting down the line a larger target to land on, ostensibly reducing the danger of a collision with the first baseman stuck in place while waiting to receive a throw.

Hussey’s Heads-Up Play

The rule only applies with the ball in play, however, which helped the Mountaineers catch Wildcats’ outfielder TJ Abrams unaware during the tenth inning of their aforementioned game. West Virginia pitcher Jack Kartsonas threw to Hussey in an attempt to pick Abrams off as he strayed away from first base. Abrams slid safely back in, but clambered to his feet on the safety bag instead of the traditional base… allowing Hussey to tag him out and erasing the lead runner.

The heads-up play quickly went viral after a post from Barstool Sports, which, as of Monday, March 24, had gained more than 5.8 million impressions on X (formerly Twitter)… and plenty of other pundits chimed in like former UVA pitcher Stephen Schoch, a media darling himself during the 2021 College World Series.

Sports coaches at any level of the game will often devote sessions to reviewing the rule book at the start of a season, going over rule changes, wacky scenarios and anything else that might come up over the course of a season. It pays to know the rules, and West Virginia earned plenty of fanfare after giving another example why… although naturally, many fans wanted to complain about the rule too.

Find more coverage of the WVUI baseball program at WV Sports Now.

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