College baseball notes: Cougars tip caps to caps

PULLMAN – Ty Johnson, freshman catcher, settles into his stance and waits for an offering from Ian Hamilton, Washington State’s ace.

The bottle cap that whizzes past his ear is unlikely to result in a charge at the pitcher. But hey, those things can sting if they hit you just right.

A couple of months ago the two Cougars, along with some other friends, began practicing hitting bottle caps. The result has been the mass saving of beverage tops, begging friends for discarded sodas and yes, Johnson admits, even some dumpster diving.

If only Hamilton and Johnson saved the bottles themselves and turned them into the recycling plant, they could probably afford a real baseball with all the nickels they’d receive.

“We have probably 150 bottle caps and we throw them fastball, slider,” Johnson said. “You can get them almost like skipping a rock, and if you get ones that cars ran over, so they’re real flat, it makes a nasty slider.”

Another possible result of Johnson’s bottle cap bashing has been improved play at the plate, which the catcher attributes to improved hand-eye coordination. Though catcher is typically a defensive-oriented position, Johnson is hitting .300 on the year, and combined to go 8 for 18 at the plate with three walks over WSU’s last two Pac-12 series.

“Just messing around with the bottle caps, it almost just carries right onto the field,” Johnson said. “You’re just seeing the ball and react, react, react.”