The 2020 opening day of college baseball featured a rematch of the 2019 College World Series, with Michigan and Vanderbilt facing off in the MLB4 tournament on Friday night in Scottsdale, AZ. And the return of the baseball season also — unfortunately — included the return of the #UmpShow.
Michigan freshman Jimmy Obertop was ejected in the ninth inning after… well, not doing much of anything. Obertop swiped his bat in the dirt after a called strike, and was ejected by the home plate umpire.
this kid really got tossed in the 9th inning for …uh, swiping the dirt with his bat after a called strike? pic.twitter.com/n1wRlPp2zt
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) February 15, 2020
Michigan’s Jimmy Obertop just got tossed for “showing up” the home plate umpire. That was ridiculous … #umpshow
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) February 15, 2020
Pathetic. That bat swipe is nowhere close to deserving of an ejection, and it doesn’t seem Obertop said anything (even if he did, it would’ve had to be *really* bad to be deserving of an ejection so quickly). An incredibly lame way for Obertop’s first college baseball appearance to end.
Things at least ended well for the Michigan team, though. The Wolverines’ Matt Schmidt cranked a go-ahead two-run homer to give Michigan a 4-3 lead in the ninth, and that would serve as the game-winning dinger.
See ya! @umichbaseball takes a 4-3 lead on a two-run shot off the bat of Matt Schmidt in the top of the 9th!#GoBlue | #MLB4 pic.twitter.com/ZcUXqIMxil
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 15, 2020
