High school baseball team advances to state championship with hidden ball trick

The hidden ball trick has long been one of the most terrifying plays in baseball, even if it hardly ever works. One high school team in Maryland proved this week that it can still be effective when executed to perfection.

The St. Michaels Saints defeated the Pikesville Panthers in a high school state tournament game on Tuesday using the hidden ball trick. St. Michaels entered the seventh and final inning with a 4-0 lead and quickly found themselves leading by one run with two outs and a runner in scoring position.

With a 2-0 count, pitcher Will Sherwood stepped off the mound and appeared to fire a pick-off attempt to second base. Second baseman Brock Grow dove near the runner to make it look like the ball had gotten by and skipped into center field.

The problem for the Panthers is that Sherwood never actually threw the ball. When the runner tried to advance to third, Sherwood chased him down and applied the tag for the final out, which preserved a 4-3 win for St. Michaels.

You can watch the awesome sequence: