Umpires Explain Their Controversial Ejections of Clemson Baseball Coaches

Some more information was released about why exactly Clemson lost three of their coaches during the most important frame of their season on Sunday.

Jun 9, 2024; Clemson, SC, USA; Clemson director of program development Jack Leggett and Clemson Head Coach Erik Bakich were both ejected during the top of the 13th inning of the NCAA baseball Clemson Super Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium / Ken Ruinard - USA TODAY Sports

Clemon's incredible baseball season came to an end on Sunday in excruciating fashion.

After dropping Game 1 of their best-of-three series with a trip to the Men's College World Series on the line, they needed to bounce back and force a deciding contest on Monday.

That ultimately didn't happen as the Tigers fell to Florida 11-10 in the bottom of the 13th inning on a two-run RBI double.

Before getting to that point, this game was a complete circus.

A Willie Mays-like grab by Cam Cannarella in center field during the 10th inning saved Clemson's season for the time being after he had just hit a game-tying three-run homer in the ninth. Following an early stalemate, the Tigers looked poised to win after hitting a solo shot in the top of the 13th inning that gave them a 10-9 advantage.

Alden Mathes ripped the ball to right field and celebrated almost immediately knowing he had just given his team an important lead.

However, his bat spike became heavily scrutinized after an early-innings skirmish resulted in one of Clemson's players getting ejected and both teams being warned for unsportsmanlike conduct moving forward.

That was what the huddled umpires were discussing instead of moving the game along which could have given the Tigers an opportunity to capitalize on their newfound momentum.

Instead, Clemson's coaching staff felt they had to stick up for their player.

Head coach Erik Bakich left the dugout and went to address the huddled umpires. He and Jack Leggett were ultimately tossed out of the game in a wild scene during the most important inning of their season.

The next frame, Florida won in walk-off fashion.

Now, crew chief Billy Van Raaphorst shared his reasoning for why Bakich and Leggett were ejected.

A very lengthy statement came in overnight from crew chief Billy Van Raaphorst about the ejections of Clemson coaches Erik Bakich and Jack Leggett during yesterday’s game. pic.twitter.com/B3qpvaJJWv

— Jon Blau (@Jon_Blau) June 10, 2024

He sites the refusal for the coaches to return to their dugout, the verbal shouts he classified as "pointing and screaming," not obeying their orders, and inciting the crowd as reasoning for their ejections and subsequent suspensions.

Sure, that's likely all in the rulebook, but the magnitude of this game should be taken in account.

After the most important play of Clemson's season, one of their players spiked his bat in excitement before rounding the bases as he gave his team the lead.

The umpires then decided they needed to have a prolonged huddle to determine if this player should be ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct after what happened in the second inning of the game.

It's completely ridiculous and the fact Raaphorst then says, "We ultimately decided that the batter's actions were not an ejectable offense" is such a cop out considering they already ejected two members of Clemson's coaching staff.

Plus, if they really weren't going to eject Mathes then it shouldn't have taken them so long to determine that before Bakich felt like he needed to go onto the field.

So, thanks for the explanation, but it does nothing to make this whole situation look less absurd.