Insane Umpire Interference Jumpstarts Epic Late Comeback In College Baseball Game

Midweek college baseball games typically don't garner too much attention, but Coastal Carolina's trip to Clemson on Tuesday night certainly did. Not only did the game feature 20 runs, but an umpire also got very involved in the action.

With Clemson leading the 15th-ranked Chanticleers 9-5 in the top of the seventh with two outs, Coastal's Brice Estep hit what looked to be a very routine fly ball to first base. It appeared the Tigers were going to get out of an uncomfortable bases-loaded jam and hold on for the win.

Well, that wasn't the case. Clemson first baseman Jack Crighton had a brutal time tracking the fly ball, and then you add in the fact that the first base umpire didn't bother to look up at the fly ball one single time, a disaster unfolded.

Crighton made a bad, bad play on the fly ball, but the umpire simply has to get out of the way in this situation as well. The umpire did not have to be anywhere near where he was standing, given that we weren't in store for some bang-bang play at first base.

As a result of the mishap at first, Coastal added two runs to the board before making it a 9-8 ball game at the end of the frame. The Chanticleers then went on to score three more runs over the final two innings and leave Clemson with an 11-9 victory.

The brutal play at first base didn't have everything to do with the Tigers giving up a late, six-run lead, but it certainly played a role.

Tigers' head coach Erik Bakich could have easily blamed the loss on the unfortunate sequence at first in the seventh inning, but shouldered responsibility.

"We didn’t lose because of the umpire interference," he said after the game. "We lost because we got out-competed in the seventh, eighth, and ninth. That’s ultimately on me."

Coastal Carolina moved to 17-7 on the year with what was its fourth straight win of the season.