USATSI
The Tennessee Volunteers, the No. 1 team in Division I college baseball, were embroiled in controversy during Friday night’s opening game of the series against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Jordan Beck, a junior outfielder and a promising draft candidate, hit a solo home run in the first inning to appear to set the Volunteers up early. There was only one catch. The umpires conferred after the home run and after a review deemed Beck’s bat illegal, negating the run and resulting in him being called out instead. Predictably, the Volunteers’ head coach Tony Vitello was unhappy with the verdict.
If you’re wondering what was going on – much like Vitello – the answer seems as muddled as you’d expect. The short version is that bats are screened before each series to ensure they meet NCAA designations. A sticker is then affixed to these sticks, allowing the referees to confirm that they have cleared the stick for the action. Apparently, Beck’s bat had a sticker on it from another series’ test.
Here’s the longer explanation, according to ESPN announcer Chris Burke:
“In pre-series bat testing, a sticker with the opposing team’s logo is placed on legal bats. There was a sticker on the bat. But it wasn’t an appropriate sticker on the racquet. It was a sticker from a midweek game. Therefore, the bat was classified as illegal.”
To recap, Beck’s bat was approved and taped – just because it wasn’t scheduled for this weekend’s series. Presumably that sticker came from Wednesday’s Volunteers game against Western Carolina, and neither Beck nor anyone else noticed the difference before he grabbed it and hit his first shot of the night.
Incidentally, the Volunteers would still take an early lead as first baseman Luc Lipcius delivered a two-run shot in the second inning. Tennessee entered the season with an absurd 24-1 record Friday night, including a 6-0 mark in SEC play.