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An East Carolina University baseball player landed an ejection and subsequent suspension following a bizarre sandwich-eating home run celebration on Tuesday afternoon. Fans and media have been quick to comment on the odd scene.
The player that was tossed was pitcher Josh Grosz, who wasn’t even in the starting lineup for the Pirates’ AAC Tournament opener. He was, however, slated to start should his team make it to Thursday in the double elimination event.
The ejection came early in the action in what was a highly entertaining contest.
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first frame, ECU slugger Jacob Starling crushed a leadoff homer to get his team on the board. Upon rounding the bases, he was greeted by a slew of teammates including Grosz, who appeared to hand him something on the way back to the dugout.
🏴☠️⚾️💥 Jacob Starling gets things going in the bottom of the 1st for ECU Baseball with a lead off home run! pic.twitter.com/5m6YDhBbCV
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 23, 2023
A closer look shows that the pitcher was actually holding some sort of food, which he proceeded to feed to Starling.
— – (@Spicoli_____) May 23, 2023
The umpire behind the plate apparently realized what had transpired and quickly kicked Grosz out of the game. The food in question has still not been confirmed, though reports lean towards it being a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Others have said it was a hot dog, which would only make sense for a day at the ballpark.
Note – it appears this was a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and as a result of the ejection Josh Grosz will miss his scheduled start on Thursday. https://t.co/jh1zIDQ1Ub
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 23, 2023
Fans were quick to comment on the bizarre sandwich ejection, posting their replies on social media.
One person wrote, “Soft umps,” while another said, “I need to see the rule against rewarding a home run with food.”
Unfortunately, there is a rule against using props on home run celebrations, which this scenario likely falls into.
“There’s so much going on here that I’m trying to process. Moral of the story — these umps are some lames,” this tweet read, while many others insinuated that the umpire was just upset that he wasn’t in on the celebration.
That’s the face of a man upset that he wasn’t also brought a hot dog. https://t.co/w6JK0HAlCp
— Rebecca (@bitter_sky) May 23, 2023
East Carolina would end up losing the game in extra innings. The Pirates gave up six runs in the bottom of the ninth before falling in the 11th frame, 12-11.
They’ll now play on Wednesday in a must-win contest.