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The Clemson Tigers and Louisville Cardinals faced off in a chippy ACC baseball series over the weekend. The three-game set offered fans entertainment aplenty as players jawed back and forth throughout each contest.
Emotions were high due to outcomes over the first two matchups, both of which saw come-from-behind efforts lead to one-run wins. Each team stole a victory from its opponent’s grasp, leading to a highly anticipated rubber match on Sunday. Umpires weren’t going to let things get out of hand in the finale.
Let’s rewind.
Clemson opened the series with a Friday night road win. After falling behind 11-4 early, the Tigers battled back to win, 12-11. That victory came thanks to four runs in the team’s final at-bat, which would be enough to deflate anyone that wound up on the losing end.
Louisville’s Dylan Hoy wasn’t going to let the opening letdown beat the Cardinals twice.
He brought incredible energy to the diamond in Game 2, and when his squad fell behind 5-2, he sparked a comeback with a towering home run over the right field fence.
Caught in the moment, he admired that moonshot before slowly trotting around the bases. As he rounded each bag, he savagely trash talked each Clemson infielder.
Though the umpiring crew did stop to have a word with the Cardinals dugout after the fact, no ejections were handed out.
That was not the case on Sunday.
Clemson’s baseball team was the victim of an ump show in the series finale.
Potentially in retaliation of Hoy’s antics, Tiger catcher Jimmy Obertop opted to flip his back in the direction of the Louisville dugout after smacking a two-run seventh-inning homer to put his team up, 17-7.
Smelling a 10-run rule incoming, Obertop decided to give a little something extra to the opposing team.
Clemson catcher, Jimmy Obertop, was ejected for this bat flip. The pitch prior was thrown at him and went behind him
Every day umpires wake up and say “how can I make today about me?” pic.twitter.com/CA0XEAkeHI
— Sam (@sthorn_23) April 29, 2024
The exclamation point on a series win!
Unlike the day prior, though, an ump show unfolded and Oberton was quickly ejected in what turned out to be the game’s final frame.
Clemson fans were quick to point out that their catcher’s actions were far less egregious than what Hoy had done earlier in the series. They always get the second guy!
Guess which one got ejected ? Lmao pic.twitter.com/qe4SgTT0i7
— 𝙋𝙚𝙋𝙚𝙏𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙧 🐅 (@ClemsonPEPE) April 28, 2024
They couldn’t believe it!
Making matters worse, it appears Obertop will be forced to sit out his next game, and with it being exam week at the university, there is no midweek contest. That likely means the backstop will miss a conference game this coming weekend.
Does the punishment fit the crime? It doesn’t seem so!