Illinois pitcher drills bird like Randy Johnson, bird somehow survives and flies away Remember when Randy Johnson practically obliterated a seagull with a pitch in a spring training game against the San Francisco Giants? Well, a high school pitcher took a page out of the same book in a game on Wednesday evening, striking an unspecified bird with a pitch on its way to the strike zone ... only for the bird to eventually dust itself off and fly off over the center field fence as if nothing much happened. The incident occurred in Illinois, where Springfield (Ill.) Sacred Heart-Griffin School pitcher Ryne Elvers drilled a passing bird while delivering a pitch against Springfield (Ill.) Southeast High at Lanphier Park in a "City Series" game. As reported by the Springfield State Journal-Register -- and brought to Prep Rally's attention by the good folks at Off the Bench -- the Big Unit-esque pitch came in the fifth inning on an 0-1 count from Elvers to Southeast batter Robbie Coop! er, who watched in amazement as the bird went down. Still, the most incredible part of the man v. nature interaction may have been the resilience of the bird itself. Unlike the seagull drilled by Johnson's heater -- which was difficult to identify because it was strewn so far across the diamond -- the bird struck by Elvers "managed to fly off, minus some feathers," according to the Journal-Register. As for Elvers, he brushed off the incident with a laugh shared with his catcher, Mitch Trees, after the ...
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