The Amazing, Circus-Style Catch That Secured a HS Baseball Team's First Win in a Dozen Years Over Rival

Two outs. Bottom of the final inning.

Riverdale (N.Y.) Horace Mann School was sweating out a rally by rival school Brooklyn (N.Y.) Poly Prep Country Day, who just put runners in scoring position.

All Brooklyn Poly Prep needed was a hit to tie or win the game in dramatic fashion.

And BOOM!

A Poly Prep batter hit a deep drive over the head of Riverdale Horace Mann outfielder Eric Mass.

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It looked like "game over" for Horace Mann...

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...except for one, small sliver of hope. Yahoo! Sports explains the dire circumstance this way:

...the ball was hit so deep that it would have been a home run in almost any other park. However, at Poly Prep Country Day, the ball was still in play because the diamond’s outer fence in right field traipses behind the batting cages, giving Mass and other right fielders a few more feet to chase down deep balls if they can navigate the plentiful obstructions.

Mass used the extra grass at his disposal, leaped for the ball, and made what has to be the catch of his life to this point.

(Credit: YouTube)

The circus grab was a particularly important one for Mass and Horace Mann, Yahoo notes, because of the rivalry it won. HM had fallen in 12 consecutive matchups with Poly Prep, and would have fallen for season number 13 if Mass hadn’t pulled in his miracle grab.

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“It’s indescribable,” Mass said. “It was just instinct. I just backtracked, kind of tripped and got my glove up. That’s all it was. I’m speechless right now.”

Check out the video of all the drama below via HMLionsReport: