A high school baseball player was ejected during a state tournament game in Illinois this week because of the way he slid into second base, and the controversial decision may have had a significant impact on the outcome of the contest.
Limestone Community High School defeated East Peoria Community High School 4-2 on Wednesday night to advance to the state regional championship. East Peoria may feel cheated after they lost their best hitter, first baseman Auggie Lohnes, to a controversial umpiring decision in the bottom of the fifth inning of the seven-inning game.
Lohnes ripped a line drive deep to left field and was determined to turn the hit into a double. There was a close play at second, but the fielder dropped the ball and Lohnes was called safe.
The play, however, resulted in Lohnes being ejected. The umpires got together and determined that Lohnes had “malicious intent” on his slide into second.
Getting a lot of requests for this video–and I'm not posting to criticize the umpiring.
— Jim Mattson (@hoijim) May 29, 2025
East Peoria's Auggie Lohnes doubles in last night's loss to Limestone. He is ruled safe at 2nd base but then ejected from game for "malicious intent" on slide. Pinch runner replaced him pic.twitter.com/t0JocE7nxD
Lohnes was replaced with a pinch runner, but East Peoria went on to lose. It is fair to wonder what type of impact losing their best hitter had on the outcome of the game.
While Lohnes slid late, it was hard to tell if he led with his spikes or appeared to intentionally cleat his opponent. The fielder was also blocking the bag, so the contact seemed unavoidable.
In any case, Limestone will now play for the regional championship on Saturday. That was a tough way for East Peoria’s season to end.
H/T Bro Bible
