Angel Campos didn’t let the stage (College World Series) or the context (an elimination game for Coastal Carolina) prevent him from quickly ejecting head coach Kevin Schnall.
Schnall, as well as first-base coach Matt Schilling, were both tossed in the first inning of Game 2 on Sunday, forcing Coastal Carolina to spend the final eight-plus innings without their coach while needing a win against LSU to stay alive.
With Walker Mitchell at the plate, Sebastian Alexander stole second base as Mitchell took a called strike, and Schnall appeared to start yelling at Campos.
At one point, Schnall exited the dugout, walked onto the field and continued shouting, and after gesturing with three or four fingers, Campos then threw him out of the game.
That prompted Schnall to continue arguing as two other umpires — with one appearing to trip and fall during the exchange — stepped in to separate Campos and Schnall, while Schilling continued to argue with a fourth umpire off to the side.
He was then ejected, too, and since Schilling and Schnall received three- and two-game suspensions, respectively, they would both be unavailable if a Game 3 was necessary.
Campos’ decision received plenty of criticism, too, including from ESPN play-by-play announcer Karl Ravech, who called it an “aggressive ejection,” according to On3.com.
“Angel Campos is a name familiar in umpiring circles, had some major league experience as well, a veteran umpire,” Ravech said. “But Schnall and the first base coach, Schilling have both been ejected from this College World Series game in the bottom of the first inning. And Schnall has emphasized to us the most important coach that he has is Schilling at first base. Boy I’ve never seen that before.”
Coastal Carolina managed to take a 1-0 lead when Dean Mihos’ ball cleared the left-field fence in the second inning, but LSU roared back with five unanswered runs to take a commanding advantage into the seventh inning — inching closer to their second national championship in three years.
LSU took Game 1 of the CWS, 1-0, on Saturday behind Kade Anderson’s complete-game, three-hit shutout.
