Southland Conference umpire suspended indefinitely for retaliating against player with outrageously bad call
You've seen bad calls, and you've seen egotistical umpires, but you've probably never seen them combine like they did Friday. And there were consequences.
In the ninth inning of a game between Mississippi Valley State and New Orleans, outfielder Davon Mims went to the plate as Mississippi Valley State's final out. After two pitches, things got weird.
With the count even at 1-1, New Orleans pitcher Trey Usey appeared to miss low with a breaking ball. And by "miss low," we mean the pitch looked closer to Mims' ankles than his knees. Home plate umpire Reggie Drummer saw it differently, though, calling the pitch a strike and triggering an irate reaction from Mims.
Your normal umpire show would've seen Drummer eject Mims, as he was jumping up and down and pointing with his bat, but the ump opted to go about things a bit differently. He set up for the next pitch with the count 1-2 and watched Usey miss badly with a down-and-away breaking ball.
Strike three.
Just watch this:
This is a division 1 baseball game... Can't even call it a terrible call. Umpire made it personal. 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/zXOvzDmIbd
— 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast 🎙 (@11point7) March 11, 2023
Consequences came quickly for Drummer, as the Southland Conference, the conference of the home team, announced the next day that it had confirmed Drummer's actions were a violation of the rulebook and suspended him indefinitely from working their games.
The full statement:
The Southland Conference is committed to promoting and enforcing the principles and standards of good sporting conduct in connection 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.
As a result, the umpire has been removed from the series and has been suspended indefinitely from Southland Conference baseball games.
The conference will have no further comment.
By the time the statement was released, the clip of Mims' strikeout was going viral and sparking outrage against Drummer. He's no longer allowed to handle Southland Conference games, but the consequences could end up going beyond that.
