Texas Tech steals home to win the game, a breakdown
What Happened
Texas Tech and Texas were tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th of a 2022 college matchup when Kurt Wilson got on base as the winning run. Wilson, the go-ahead runner standing at third, picked up on a fatal flaw in the Texas pitcher's routine: every time he took the sign, he buried his head and rocked his leg for a full three seconds before looking back up. Coached up by his third base coach, Wilson timed it and simply took off for home. The pitcher never saw him coming, and Wilson slid in to steal home for the walk-off win while the entire stadium erupted around an oblivious mound.
Why This Matters
Stealing home is one of the rarest plays in baseball because it usually requires a pitcher to completely lose track of a runner, and that's exactly what happened here. The Texas pitcher had a tell you could set a watch to: three Mississippi every single pitch with his head down. Wilson didn't beat him with speed so much as homework, and the third base coach deserves an assist for spotting the pattern and feeding it to him. What makes it sting more is how preventable it was. A quick glance, a varied tempo, anything would've ended the threat. The aftermath was even better. The very next day, same teams, 10th inning again, bases loaded and tied 12-12, Wilson came up and hit a walk-off grand slam. Back-to-back walk-offs by the same kid is the kind of weekend that follows a college player around forever.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Kurt Wilson.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momenttexas and texas tech tied at four runs
apiece bottom of the 10th inning these
two teams played back-to-back crazy
games if you were there you're lucky if
not what are you doing buy tickets next
time use seat geek code john boy get you
20 off seat geek they got seats
to everything and they're geeks
apparently first pitch inside to kurt
wilson who looks at him says i didn't
like that don't come inside again comes
inside again doesn't like it again the
2-1 ball but outside that's good and
then they say he did not
swing so he's off to first base he
represents the winning run for texas
tech trying to beat
number two seed texas dives back to
first dives back to first again they're
trying to pick him off he's like this
sucks i don't like it now this pitcher
on texas
one just looks like a texas pitcher just
kind of built like one looks down
every time he gets set he does like
three pumps like rocking motions with
his leg as he's looking down 2-0 pitch
the next kid is a strike and then
another pick off so they're worried
about this guy because he's the winning
run he scores the game's over and
uh oh walks another batter so now he's
got two on and now the winning run
wilson is at second base
and over here
the pitcher actually does a good job
holding him on looks at him looks back
looks at him again looks back he doesn't
do his normal routine it doesn't last
long they bunt the runner over they get
the out at first and now the third base
coach gets in wilson's ear and he's like
hey gonna need you to watch something
as soon as he gets the sign he looks
down one mississippi two mississippi
three mississippi rocks his foot for
three seconds then looks back up for the
pitch look one mississippi two
mississippi three mississippi and then
up hope you're noticing this wilson
that's probably what the third base
coach is saying one mississippi two
mississippi three mississippi and then
up
real bad rhythm real bad pattern he
should probably change it one
mississippi two mississippi three miss
and up
okay here's the one two pitch and he
gets the strikeout though
so now this pitcher oh third base coach
just letting him know hey we get the two
strikes or you gotta take off maybe he
said that maybe he didn't it's what
happens spoiler
so one mississippi two mississippi three
mississippi up
first pitch to this kid and they got a
lefty up now so the lane home to slide
in is there one mississippi two
mississippi
three the o1 pitch another strike so now
this guy's one strike away from getting
out of this jam with the go ahead runner
on third
only he never gets the option watch how
this plays out
gets the sign looks down he's in his own
element everyone's screaming everyone up
game over
doesn't even know what's happening
wilson screaming in his face
steals home to win the game incredible
also incredible that the pitcher lets
that happen i mean it's an easy fix
that's the good thing moving forward
super easy fix but the entire stadium
knew what was happening before he did i
don't think the batter and the umpire
knew i don't think the home plate umpire
like ever knew what the batter clearly
did right here like the umpire
i i don't think he knows what's
happening i think he is like what and
then he looks at him he goes oh he
scored
and you look here i have the guy up here
as he's second to no catch her obviously
first
because if you go to the beginning of
the play the catcher as the pitcher
looks down the catcher is now looking at
the runner who at this point is taking
off
the catcher's like hey hey but everyone
had to be yelling i mean the whole crowd
erupts this guy points then the runner
on second starts cheering and the
pitcher hears none of this because the
pitcher you can see when he deflates
when so he's still i don't think he
still understands right here i think
it's right there
it's right when his arms kind of drop
like right look at the pitcher's arms i
don't think he knows at all i think he's
in such his own element
like i think he looks up here and still
is like what's everyone yelling about
and then the guy slides and he's like oh
i get it now we had this cool angle shot
from the stands
where you can see
look at this come on pitch
he's looking down looking down looking
down
he gets so far that fan was
easily
easily the first to know first one up
award goes to that dude he beat his
section by a lot and the guy gets so far
look how far the runner is before the
pitcher even looks up and so stupid
and then we have the in the dugout shot
matched up you can see him getting off
here
goes back and then just takes off and
nobody notices the entire stadium
notices psych the entire stadium besides
the pitcher notices the guy on second
tosses his helmet you can see on the
bottom screen
right here he's running down here and
you're gonna see him toss his helmet and
then up here top screen you're gonna see
that land right before the coach bam
right there
it's a cool double shot the dugout and
the fan shot well does it get any better
than that for Kurt Wilson it sure does
they do their chant they sing they smile
he sticks his tongue out a little bit
the very next day they're in the 10th
inning again the bases are loaded
they're tied 12 to 12 and our dude kurt
wilson is up 1-0 pitch he's rocking and
rolling and rocking feeling good about
himself how could you not walked it off
yesterday by stealing home now you're
going to hit a walk-off grand slam
absolutely he is
man
imagine if you had tickets to both of
these games it could have been you
seat geek 20 off your first order with
code jomboy
texas what are you guys doing all the
pictures on both of these teams what are
you doing oh wow crazy good high five
solid contact hey hey
squares it up
they meet in the middle
perfect high five