Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall didn’t like the way umpires handled his ejection early in Game 2 of the College World Series, explaining that he shouldn’t “get shooed by another grown man.”
Schnall was tossed in the bottom of the first inning of what eventually turned into an LSU win and its second College World Series title in three years with a 5-2 victory.
First base coach Matt Schilling was also tossed from the game during the exchange as the two argued with the umpires – one of whom tripped and fell while trying to separate Schnall and umpire Angel Campos.
“I’m 48 years old. I shouldn’t get shooed by another grown man. When I walk out to find out what the warning is, a grown man shooed me. At that point I can now hear him say, ‘It was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes.’ At that point I said, ‘Because you missed three.’ At that point, ejected,” Schnall said after the game.
“If that warrants an ejection, I’m the first one to stand here like a man and apologize. Two words that define our program are ‘own it.’ And what does that mean? It means you have to own everything that you do without blame, without defending yourself, without excuses.”
Schilling and Schnall received three and two-game suspensions, respectively, which the Coastal Carolina coach contended was the result of the umpire being embarrassed that he had fallen.
“If you guys watch the video, there was a guy that came in extremely aggressively, tripped over Campos’ foot, embarrassed in front of 25,000 [fans], immediately goes two games suspension and said, ‘bumping the umpire.’ Immediately does that. There was no bump. He was embarrassed. I shouldn’t be held accountable for a grown man’s athleticism,” Schnall continued.
“They’ll retract it, though, because now it’s excessive and the reason it was excessive because I was trying to say, I didn’t bump him. It is what it is. But if that warranted an ejection, man, there would be a lot of ejections. As an umpire, I feel like it’s your job to manage the game, the national championship game, with some poise, some calmness and a little bit of tolerance.”
The LSU Tigers used a four-run fourth inning to propel themselves to another national championship.