Delano Baseball Trick Play: High School Team Uses 'Little Big League' Fake (VIDEO)

Baseball may not feature as many scripted gadget plays as football but when a team pulls off a trick play on the diamond the results tend to seem straight out of a movie.

Delano High School's (Calif.) baseball team needed to get out of a jam after loading the bases with two outs in a game last week. Head coach Mark Gentry called a trick play that he apparently dubbed "El Black."

The pitcher faked like he made a pick-off attempt to second base, where neither the shortstop nor the second baseman were covering. The defense acted as if the ball had trickled into the outfield, but the pitcher had the ball the entire time. None of the baserunners realized what was happening and the baserunner on third took off for home plate. The pitcher then tossed the ball to the catcher for the easy force out.

Sound familiar? This phantom pick-off attempt was used in the 1994 film "Little Big League."

In the movie, the Twins' 12-year-old manager, Billy Heywood, called a similar trick play in a crucial moment of the team's final game of the season. Ken Griffey Jr. fell for it and got tagged out at second while Mariners manager Lou Pinella was left scratching his head saying, "what the hell was that?"

To their credit, Delano didn't need any help from the security guard.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the school is in Minnesota and that the coach's name is Dan Paulson.