It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Florida baseball on Sunday. In fact, with some overzealous umpiring involved, it was far from that kind of pure joy.
In an eventual 11-6 win over SEC rival Georgia, Gators pitcher Brandon Neely was thrown out of the game for flexing. Why? He happened to get his team out of a massive team with a big-time strikeout. As Neely walked off the field, the umpire understandably caught him off guard with an ejection.
Naturally, fans at the stadium and Florida were irate with the call that perhaps put too much weight into a player having fun.
#Gators Pitcher Brandon Neely is thrown out for flexing after a massive strike out.
Fans are furious. Showering the home plate umpire with boos – for good reason.
Not entirely sure how that is warranted of ejection pic.twitter.com/2NHDnzrsfX
— Will Levenson (@BigWillLevenson) April 16, 2023
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In light of Neely’s ejection, Florida’s Jac Caglianone decided to have fun with the umpires a little later on. When he mashed an eighth-inning grand slam, Caglianone hilariously kept his celebration as neutral as possible, walking like a stiff action-figure soldier toward home plate while making no discernible happy expression.
It’s pure gold:
Umpire tossed Brandon Neely from the game after his strike out celebration in the top of the 8th. Jac Caglianone then hits a grand slam and makes sure there’s no reason for him to get tossed too pic.twitter.com/UYN8EQny2h
— Stephen Schoch (@bigdonkey47) April 16, 2023
That’s one way to put an awful call into question: Make fun of it within the context of the rulebook.