Indians’ Trevor Bauer playfully explains the grudge he has against Whit Merrifield

Sometimes there are connections between Major League Baseball players that fans just never realized.

By now Royals fans have heard all about Whit Merrifield’s hit in the 11th inning that won the 2010 College World Series for South Carolina, right?

But did you know that Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is still nursing a playful grudge about that particular hit?

In a segment for Infield Chatter, Bauer was opening packs of baseball cards and got a Merrifield card. Bauer recalled that he was with UCLA when the Gamecocks beat the Bruins in the CWS championship series:

“I was warming up down the right-field line in the bullpen, trying to get myself into the game. Our closer, Dan Klein at the time, had thrown like 90 pitches already, which was more than double his season high. They had a guy on third and one out and ... Whit comes up and hits a single over the first baseman’s head and I just watched the ball roll like 10 feet from me down the line. And they walked us off to win the College World Series.”

Merrifield responded with this: “You say base hit over the first basemen’s head, I say line drive to right. The difference in pitcher and hitter lingo”