College Baseball Fans Furious With Pitch Clock Violation Call In NCAA Regional Final

A group of umpires huddle on the field.

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College baseball fans are not happy with a call from the Auburn NCAA Regional final. Umpires called a pitch clock violation during a key moment as Penn and Southern Miss battled for a chance to advance to a super regional.

That call has come under scrutiny as it potentially impacted the outcome of the contest. Fans and media are now posting replies to the violation online.

The Auburn regional has been filled with surprises.

The top seeded Tigers were eliminated quickly, dropping consecutive games to four-seed Penn and two-seed Southern Miss. The Quakers and Golden Eagles are now the last two teams in the field with one game standing between them and a super regional.

On Sunday, the squads faced off in a regional final with Penn having a chance to book its ticket. After winning their first two contests, the Quakers sat in the winner’s bracket.

Southern Miss needed to beat Penn and force a rematch to keep its season alive.

It did so, but not without controversy.

In the fourth inning of action, Penn had the bases loaded and a one-run lead. Left fielder Calvin Brown stepped up to the plate with a 3-2 count and two outs in the frame.

He apparently took a bit too long to get in the box for that final pitch, resulting in a pitch clock violation.

That violation resulted in a called third strike and the final out of the frame, successfully ending the scoring threat.

The rule states that the batter has until the 10-second mark on the pitch clock to get set in the box. Some argue that he was in position in time.

Fans were quick to react to call, which they believe should not have been made in such a monumental situation.

One follower wrote, “I love the pitch clock… in every situation but this one. High leverage situations deserve some extra time. Idk how you fix this, but this is crazy.”

Another person commented, “Umps have to read the room, huge moment in the game can’t end on that. Need to let these big moments play out, it’s what makes baseball fun to watch.”

This fan said, “This is absolutely an umpire stealing a huge moment from both teams. Southern Miss will take it, but I guarantee they wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that kind of call. NOBODY wants to watch an umpire end the inning in that big of a situation.”

The violation thwarted a potential scoring opportunity and kept the scoreboard at 2-1. Southern Miss would take a 3-2 in the sixth before exploding for eight runs in the top of the ninth to blow the game open.

Penn and USM will face off Monday with that super regional trip on the line. Hopefully, another big call doesn’t influence the game.