NEW ORLEANS — A blown call to end a college baseball game between Mississippi Valley State and New Orleans on Friday has generated national attention and led to the indefinite suspension of an umpire.
With UNO up 7-3 in the bottom of the ninth and MVS down to their last batter, umpire Reggie Drummer called a strike two on a pitch that appeared to go below the knees of Devon Mims, who then protested the call by hopping out of the batter's box.
The next pitch was well off the plate and should have been called a ball, but Drummer called it to strike three, ending the game.
The blown call went viral on social media the following Saturday. Drummer was suspended indefinitely from the Southland Conference.
"I talked to the umpire and I told him, 'I think you were wrong. I think you understand that it shouldn't have happened,'" said UNO Head Coach Blake Dean.
5th-year-senior and UNO catcher Jorge Tejeda held a frustrated Mims back from approaching Drummer after the game ended.
"It was a bad call. It was the wrong call. I knew it right away," Tejeda said. "I imagined that moment as if I was going through the player's head. It's easy in the moment to do something you might regret later. So I just stepped in, talked to him and tried to calm him down."
On Sunday, the Privateers played MVS again, with a replacement umpire filling in for the suspended Drummer. UNO set a program record for runs, winning 35-3.
"It was pretty impressive. The wind on the lake blows out, it can be very offensive," Dean said. "It wasn't just the starters. I took the whole lineup out and the next guys did just as much so it was a good win to just sit down and enjoy."
Dean would get his 200th career win as the Privateers won the third series by a score of 16-3, which triggered the run rule and ended the game in the 7th inning.
The Privateers face a tough challenge playing no. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
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