Fan catches home run ball with 1 hand, saves beer in other hand

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A former athlete at Dakota Wesleyan University watching the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska became an internet star by making a stretching one-handed catch of a home run ball — all while keeping a plastic cup filled with beer from tipping over.

For good measure, 23-year-old Austin Buysse of Minneota, Minnesota, immediately guzzled the beer and spiked the cup like a football, much to the delight of fans sitting in left field for the Texas Tech-Arkansas game.

ESPN posted the feat on Twitter and called it “The catch and the chug.” The tweet received 90,000 likes.

The catch and the chug pic.twitter.com/eO7F2fQoSw

— ESPN (@espn) June 18, 2019

Buysse told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that he couldn’t say which he considered more impressive, making the left-handed stab on the ball or saving the beer. He said he felt no pain from the bare-handed catch.