Baseball
BAKICH AND LEGGETT EJECTED, NO.6 CLEMSON ELIMINATED BY FLORIDA 11-10 IN 13-INNING SUPER REGIONAL EPIC
- 2024-06-10 01:01:00
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CLEMSON, SC - I have witnessed some incredible and historic games in Doug Kingsmore Stadium over the last 30 years and seen many incredible things, but Sunday's Super Regional game may have topped them all. Put simply, it was one of the greatest games in the history of college baseball. It had everything. Lead changes (including two in the 13th inning), homeruns, heroics, ejections, collisions, show-stopping defensive plays and even a walk-off hit with an electric crowd that would rival any the college game has seen. It also included arguably the greatest play in college baseball history. The "Cannarella Catch," as I'm calling it, was something that few people are lucky enough to witness in their lifetime. It was just as remarkable, if not more so, as the legendary catch by Willie Mays. In fact, I was the first in the press box to yell "That was Willie Mays" immediately after the catch, while everyone was still trying to comprehend what they just saw. Sure enough, minutes later, ESPN made the same comparison by juxtaposing the two plays on the telecast. Unlike the catch by Mays that everyone still talks about 60 years later, the play by Cannarella literally saved the season for the Tigers. If he doesn't make that once-in-a-lifetime catch, Florida wins in the 10th and the season is over. As if that weren't enough, Cannarella had already saved the season for the Tigers with his 3-run HR to tie the game 9-9 in the 9th!
It's a shame that Cannarella's heroics did not result in the storybook ending that seemed inevitable, with the Tigers winning the game and going on to Omaha for the first time in 14 years. However, that doesn't diminish the magnitude of what transpired and the magic that the sellout crowd at DKS felt in that moment. From my perspective, I can honestly say that it was the greatest play I have ever witnessed in person in over 40 years of obsession with sports. It was also the craziest game I have ever seen--even more than the Christian Laettner game I watched on TV when I was 15.
I would have loved to have covered this team in Omaha, but what a way to go out! The Tigers put up one hell of a fight. And Cannarella wasn't the only hero. There was the third inning HR by Blake Wright--which seems like a week ago--to give the Tigers their first lead of the game 3-2. He also doubled and singled twice, setting the table for Cannarella's 9th inning HR, in his final game as a Tiger. There was Jimmy Obertop, the grad transfer from Michigan who homered in both games of the Super Regional. There was Austin Gordon, who made a mistake on one pitch for a 2-out HR in the 8th, but otherwise delivered one of the best relief performances I've ever seen, striking out 10 in 4 innings. Then there was the unlikely hero, McCladdie, who barely played this season but replaced the ejected Crighton in the 2nd at first base and delivered an RBI single in the 8th. Again, this game had everything...except a happy ending for the Tigers and the Clemson faithful.
As for the madness that transpired in the 13th inning (a fitting number), it all started with the HR by Mathes, which gave the Tigers their first lead since the 3rd inning, 10-9. He was seemingly ejected after the dramatic homer for flipping his bat and excessive celebration. That started a bizarre chain reaction. Leggett came out of the dugout to protest the ejection, and he was tossed for coming onto the field. That sent Bakich into a rage, and he was consequently ejected as well! By the way, if he hadn't already endeared himself to Clemson fans enough by leaping over the fence into the Cheap Seats last week, he certainly did even more by his outburst. He gestured to the crowd as he was exiting the field, and that drove the fans wild. The ultimate irony is that Mathes was never even ejected, even though everyone in the stadium, including the coaches and players thought he was. If the umpires had made that clear, Leggett would not have come out of the dugout and been ejected, and Bakich would not have been ejected in response to that! From what I have been told, both coaches will be suspended for two games, so if the Tigers had won, both coaches would have been suspended for the rubber match on Monday as well as the first game in Omaha if they won on Monday. That's obviously moot now, but they will miss the first two games of next season! Ordinarily, the first two games of the season would be at home against a lesser opponent, but next season, they open in a tournament at the Rangers' stadium in Texas with 5 other Power Five teams! So the insanity of this game will bleed all the way into next season. Incidentally, Crighton would also have missed a game on Monday and will have to miss the opener next season.
I will have more on this unbelievable game in a bit. In the meantime, my post-game interviews are below. A somewhat new NCAA rule prohibits ejected coaches from participating in the post-game press conference, so we only got to talk to Wright, Obertop and Gordon. We will have to wait a couple weeks for our annual wrap-up with Bakich to talk to him about the game and the season. By the way, I asked Sully about the Cannarella Catch, and he told me that he was "floored" by it. He also said that the electricity at DKS this weekend was beyond anything he saw in his 9 years here under Leggett.
I didn't think anything could top last year's 14-inning epic against Tennessee in the Regional in terms of excitement and heartbreak, but this one did. Despite the disappointing ending, it was another incredible season for the Tigers, who took another step forward with their first Super Regional in 14 years. It won't be long before Bakich and the Tigers take that next step and return to Omaha for a 13th time. More in a bit!
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