The tiger has stripes as camouflage, but as an apex predator, it is not for hiding; it is for hunting. And, in the top of the 2nd inning, that is exactly what Clemson's third baseman, Blake Wright, did to Coastal Carolina's Dean Mihos. Wright walked to the mound with the ball in his glove and faked the handoff to pitcher Ethan Darden before returning to third to wait until a lead was taken, and then, like a mighty sabertooth, he pounced on the unsuspecting shortstop. Clemson would go on to rout the Chanticleers 12-2, advancing them to the super regional.

While the Hidden Ball trick may not be the oldest trick in the book (I strongly suspect there was chicanery back in the days of the gladiators), it is still a long-standing act of gamesmanship that is rarely executed to perfection. Executed only around 300 times in over 100 years of Major League Baseball, the first recorded instance was against the Detroit Tigers. William "Scranton Bill" Coughlin was able to execute the play on September 24, 1901. Scranton Bill was reported to have pulled it off seven times.

The play remains difficult, dishonest, and goddamn entertaining. The Clemson Tigers executing the play have made a casual fan out of me as they advance to the super regional, and Wikipedia has made me a huge Scranton Bill fan. Hopefully, we will see some more Hidden Ball plays this college world series, but if not, at least we can return to giving out spectacular nicknames like Scranton Bill.