Midwest
Amateur baseball player makes ingenious play to avoid potential double play
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You never know what you might see on a baseball field.
Duluth Huskies third baseman Ethan Surowiec fielded a groundball, as a baserunner, during the team’s 5-4 win over the La Crosse Loggers on Tuesday at Wade Stadium in Duluth, Minnesota.
The bases were loaded in the bottom of the inning with one out, and the Huskies were up to bat. Surowiec was the runner on second base when a ground ball was hit to Loggers shortstop Mikey Ryan III.
Northwest Rankin Cougars baserunner gets caught in a rundown with Gulfport Admirals’ Ethan Surowiec (11) tagging him out before he reached first base during the game at Northwest Rankin in Flowood, Miss., on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Northwest Rankin beat Gulfport 7-2. (IMAGN)
After the ball was hit, Surowiec took a couple of steps to his right and fielded the ball himself, like a shortstop, instead of letting it through to the actual shortstop, Ryan, to avoid a potential double-play.
“Oh my goodness, I have never seen that on a baseball field,” the announcer said.
“Ethan Surowiec picked up the baseball (and) purposefully gave himself up.”
The umpires deemed the play a “fielder’s choice 6,” which allowed for the bases to remain loaded. The runner on third base remained, while the runner on first base advanced to second base, and the batter went to first base.
Surowiec’s quick-thinking gave the Huskies a chance to capitalize, as giving himself up allowed the inning to continue.
DODGERS BROADCASTER OREL HERSHISER BRINGS UP ASTROS SIGN-STEALING SCANDAL IN HOUSTON’S HISTORIC ROUT OVER LA
Gulfport pitcher Ethan Surowiec (11) winds the ball during the MHSAA class 6A baseball championships against Gulfport at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississipi, on Thursday, June 1, 2023. (IMAGN)
However, according to the Baseball Rules Academy, the umpires got the call wrong. Rule 6.01(a)(6) states that both Surowiec and the batter should have been ruled out.
“If, in the judgment of the umpire, a baserunner willfully and deliberately interferes with a batted ball or a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play, the ball is dead. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. In no event may bases be run or runs scored because of such action by a runner,” the rule states, according to the Baseball Rules Academy.
If the umpires had enforced the rule according to what the Baseball Rules Academy stated, both Surowiec and the batter would have been called out to end the inning.
Gulfport’s Ethan Surowiec (11) warms up during the MHSAA class 6A baseball championships at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi, on Thursday, June 1, 2023. (IMAGN)
Surowiec’s seemingly ingenious play would have resulted in the same outcome he was trying to prevent: an inning-ending double play. His deliberate play to interfere with the baseball ended up as a moot point, as designated hitter Paul Gutierrez Contreras then hit a flyout to right field and stranded the three runners.
The Huskies improved to 3-1 with the win, and they sit atop the Great Plans East division in the Northwoods League, while the Loggers fell to 2-2 with the loss.
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Illinois
Illinois high school football playoffs expanding in 2026
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (KWQC) – The IHSA football playoffs will be expanding by 50 percent in 2026.
IHSA member schools approved an amendment to expand the playoffs from 32 teams per class to 48.
There will still be 8 classifications increasing the total number of playoff teams from 256 to 384.
As a result of the change, the start of the season will be moved up by a week in August to allow the season to still finish with State Championship games the week of Thanksgiving.
Copyright 2025 KWQC. All rights reserved.
Indiana
Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’
Former UConn forward, NBC Sports broadcaster Donny Marshall knows a thing or two about talented UConn guards.
The former Husky played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun and was teammates with the fifth pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, 10-time NBA All-Star Ray Allen. Watching UConn play against Butler on Tuesday night, Marshall said he sees a lot of Allen in reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins.
Mullins made the second start of his career against the Bulldogs. The former Greenfield-Central star missed UConn’s first six games of the regular season with an injury, but the 6-foot-6 guard is quickly coming into his own and showing why he’s a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Against Butler, Mullins showed off his sweet jump shot, going 2 for 5 from 3-point range. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.
“He’s a scorer,” Butler coach Thad Matta said of Mullins. “He’s got a scorer’s mentality. He gets his shot off quick. They move him around and create some angles for him. Obviously, he’s a heck of a player.”
Mullins did most of his damage in the first half, scoring eight of his 12 points before halftime. The former five-star recruit was the highest-ranked player in UConn’s 2025 class. Butler’s top-ranked recruit, Azavier “Stink” Robinson isn’t the NBA prospect Mullins is, but he held his own after a shaky start to the game.
Robinson has been thrust into the starting lineup with starter Jalen Jackson out for the season with an ankle injury. Robinson looked out of sorts at times in the first half, going scoreless with two assists and a turnover. In the second half, Matta moved him off the ball, giving him catch-and-shoot looks, and opportunities to drive to the basket without worrying about running the offense.
The former Lawrence North star responded with one of the better halves of his career, scoring 10 points on 3 for 6 shooting, including 2 for 5 from 3 to go along with two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one turnover.
Facing a veteran team like UConn, nothing comes easy. UConn’s guards harass ball handlers and getting into an offensive set is not easy. This time last year, Robinson was still in high school and, on most nights, the most athletic player on the court. Playing a UConn team where the goal is a national championship, Robinson was forced to grow, and he did not back down from the challenge in the second half.
“He’s coming along,” Matta said of Robinson. “That’s the first Big East road game of his career against maybe the best team in the country. It tells you how tough he is. He’s resilient. He keeps going.”
Iowa
I-80 crash cleanup continues after weekend pile-up in eastern Iowa
WEST BRANCH, Iowa (KCRG) – Cleanup crews are still working to remove vehicles from Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa following multiple crashes that blocked the highway for about 12 hours Saturday morning.
Multiple crashes on I-80 east of Iowa City Saturday morning shut down the interstate for several hours in both directions. No one was killed, but dozens of people were injured and taken to the hospital.
Lanes in the area will be closed in order to pull crashed cars out of the median.
“Towing and recovering efforts started right away after the storm, Sunday night after the storm and have continued each night since then and we’re estimating a couple, two to three more nights yet to get everything removed out there,” said Mitch Wood with the Iowa Department of Transportation.
DOT explains highway closure decision
The DOT did not expect conditions to be as bad as they were this weekend. Access to the highway was only limited after the crash happened.
“It started out with just a typical Iowa snowfall forecast. Nothing in that forecast, I guess, rose to that level of alarm for us to kind of forecast that we would have seen the traffic issues that we ended up seeing,” Wood said.
The DOT says preemptively closing the interstate can be done if unsafe travel can be predicted.
“What we could never really anticipate is the driving conditions changing rapidly and how drivers are going to respond to that,” Wood said.
Wood says shutting down an interstate is never a light decision.
“It’s not something that we necessarily want to do but when we make that decision, almost everytime we’re making that decision for safety reasons,” Wood said.
Cleanup of those accidents from Saturday are still underway. That typically happens in the evening, so drivers should watch for signs and lane closures when towing is happening.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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