Saturday’s college baseball game between Texas A&M and Mississippi State ended in fireworks. A Southeastern Conference umpire deserves to be suspended four games for his actions, even though they weren’t overly aggressive or inappropriate.
The precedent was set back in April 2022!
Bulldogs slugger Hunter Hines was the final out of the Aggies’ 6-1 win in the second game of a three-game series. He was called out on a strike three that was probably outside.
It could’ve gone either way but was deemed to be the final pitch of the afternoon.
Hines did not agree and turned back to give the home plate umpire a piece of his mind. They exchanged a few choice words while making their way back to the dugout. Both guys were hot.
Hot ending pic.twitter.com/To7dvkHKt6
— 12th Man Insider👍 (@12thMan1n2ider) March 23, 2024
As the disagreement proceeded to unfold, the umpire went out of his way to chest-bump Hines.
He initiated contact with the batter. Not the other way around.
Buddy initiated the chest bump contact with Hines… yikeeeess pic.twitter.com/Sej15nf8cE
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) March 23, 2024
This might not be that big of a deal. Such an insignificant moment really should not matter. Both parties involved in the minor incident should be allowed to go their separate ways and we should call it a day.
Unfortunately, that is not how the SEC handled similar incidents in the past.
Tony Vitello received a suspension for chest-bumping an umpire during an argument just two years ago. Tennessee’s head coach missed four games because he initiated contact with an official.
If Vitello was suspended for chest-bumping an umpire, the umpire that chest-bumped a player on Saturday should receive the exact same punishment. The SEC needs to remove him from his duties for four college baseball games just like it did when the script was flipped two years ago.
It has to go both ways! The standard is the standard and the standard does not change based on circumstance.