What would you do if you were a high school pitcher who struck out the final hitter to advance your team to the state championship? You most certainly would join the pile-on of your teammates at midfield. You might ascend to the roof of the dugout to confirm official conquering hero status.
What you would not do, we're pretty sure, is take into consideration the feelings of the guy you struck out, because that's someone else's problem, and what are you, soft?
Actually, here's where Minnesota pitcher Ty Koehn is different, because in the aftermath of striking out Totino-Grace's Jack Kocon to clinch his Mounds View team's berth in states, Koehn inexplicably walked toward Kocon and did this:
Turns out the two players are friends dating back to Little League, and as Kocon told Minnesota outlet BringMeTheNews.com, their relationship took precedence over the game's final score.
"I knew I had to say something. Our friendship is more important than just the silly outcome of a game," he said. "I had to make sure he knew that before we celebrated."
Of course, the nature of the Internet in 2018 is that Kocon's gesture elicited all types of comical opinions about today's snowflake generation, because there's clearly no place for general decency in the kill-or-be-killed world of Minnesota high school baseball. Next time, if he really wants people's respect, he should kick his old friend in the shin.
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