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An umpire at a college baseball game has been suspended ‘indefinitely’ after ending the game with a shocking strike call.
New Orleans faced Mississippi Valley State on Friday (10 March) night during which plate umpire Reggie Drummer made a couple of bad calls, sparking a backlash from baseball fans.
During the ninth inning, with two outs and trailing by four runs, Mississippi Valley State left fielder Davon Mims came up to bat when Drummer made two contentious strike calls.
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In footage of the game, an ESPN announcer can be heard saying: “That’s down… Oh my gosh, wow.
“He got rung up on ball two, and the game is over. Oh my goodness, that is horrific.”
Mims appeared to lose his temper at the first call and could be seen pointing with his bat to where he believed the pitch fell.
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He managed to compose himself and continue on, but his composure was short-lived; following the second and final call he could be seen taking off his helmet and following Drummer off the field.
He was stopped by the New Orleans catcher and was left approached by his teammate who walked away with him towards the dugout.
Footage of the call went viral on Twitter with one fan commenting: “When the catcher even agrees with you that it wasn't a strike, that says something. Seems to me like the umpire either can't see or made this personal.”
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Another said: “This is terrible! There has to be some consequences for bad officiating.”
While a third wrote: “If you make a call this egregiously bad at this level you should never be able to umpire at that level again.”
Following the game, Southland Conference has announced that Drummer has been suspended.
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In a statement, Southland Conference said: "The Southland Conference is committed to promoting and enforcing the principles and standards of good sporting conduct with all conference activities involving our member institutions, including competition against non-conference opponents.
"The conference expects this conduct to be upheld by all game participants.
“After a thorough review of the New Orleans and Mississippi Valley State baseball contest on March 10, 2023, the Southland Conference confirmed the home plate umpire’s conduct and actions were deemed detrimental to the Conference and in violation of Section 3 Character and Conduct of the CCA Mechanics Manual for Baseball.
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"As a result, the umpire has been removed from the series and has been suspended indefinitely from Southland Conference baseball games.”
Claire Reid