Umpire suspended for egregious call at end of Mississippi Valley State baseball game

A college baseball umpire has been suspended indefinitely for conduct that was described as “detrimental” for an egregious strike three call that ended a game between Mississippi Valley State and New Orleans on Friday night.

New Orleans held a 7-3 lead with 2 outs in the 9th inning and MVSU left fielder Davon Mims was at-bat. On a 1–1 count, Mims took what appeared to be a pitch low and for a called strike. Mims, not agreeing with the call, jumped in the batter’s box and pointed with his bat the location of the pitch.

A pitch later, the umpire wrung Mims up on a pitch that was even further out of the strike zone — so egregiously so that Privateers catcher Jorge Tejeda ran to calm an irate Mims down after the game ended.

The play-by-play announcer on ESPN+ could not believe what he witnessed.

“That’s down,” the announcer said. “Oh my gosh! Wow! He got wrung up on ball two and the game is over! Oh my goodness, that is horrific!”

He concluded by saying, “The umpire just wanted to go home.”

This is a division 1 baseball game… Can’t even call it a terrible call. Umpire made it personal. 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/zXOvzDmIbd

— 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast 🎙 (@11point7) March 11, 2023

Following the game, the Southland Conference released a statement explaining that the umpire had been removed from the remainder of the series and that his conduct was “deemed detrimental to the conference.”

Here is the full statement:

The Southland Conference is committed to promoting and enforcing the principles and standards of good sporting conduct in connection with all Conference activities involving our member institutions, including competition against non-conference opponents. The Conference expects this conduct to be upheld by all game participants.

After a thorough review of the New Orleans and Mississippi Valley State baseball contest on March 10, 2023, the Southland Conference confirmed the home plate umpire’s conduct and actions were deemed detrimental to the Conference and in violation of Section 3 Character and Conduct of the CCA Mechanics Manual for Baseball.

The unnamed umpire was also suspended indefinitely from Southland Conference baseball games, the league said.