Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall went nuclear on the umpiring crew that ejected him in the first inning of his team’s College World Series loss to LSU on Sunday.
Schnall was tossed in the first inning by home plate umpire Angel Campos, seemingly for pointing out that Campos had missed three pitches. After the game, Schnall said he only vaguely heard a warning because of the noise of the crowd. Schnall added he felt he had been treated disrespectfully.
“There’s 25,000 people there and I vaguely hear a warning issued,” Schnall said, via Austin Curtwright of USA Today. “As the head coach, I was an assistant for 24 years. As an assistant you’re almost treated like a second-grade, second-level citizen and you can’t say a word. Now as a head coach, I think it is your right to get an explanation of why we got warned. And I’m 48 years old. I shouldn’t get shooed by another grown man. So, when I come out to ask what the warning is, a grown man shooed me.
“So, at that point I can now hear him say it was a warning issued for balls and strikes. And at that point I said, ‘Because you missed three.’ At that point, ejected. If that warrants an ejection, I’m the first one to stand here like a man and apologize.”
Schnall added that one umpire who tripped over Campos’ foot accused Schnall of bumping him.
“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, immediately goes ‘two-game suspension,’ and said ‘bumping the umpire.’ Immediately does that,” Schnall said. “There was no bump. He was embarrassed. I shouldn’t be held accountable for a grown man’s athleticism.”
Most fans felt that the decision to eject Schnall over what he did at that point in the game was completely over-the-top. Schnall felt the same way, but there was nothing he could do about it.
LSU wound up winning the game 5-3, clinching the series after Schnall’s ejection.
