Coastal Carolina didn’t have answers for the victorious LSU Tigers in the College World Series on Sunday, but the Charleston, South Carolina, school wants answers for the ejection of two of its coaches from the championship series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Head coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling were ejected for arguing with the umpires in the Chanticleers’ 5–3 loss to the Tigers. Coastal Carolina saw a 26-game winning streak stopped cold in a two-game sweep by LSU, and the ejections punctuated a slide for a team that was looking to win a second MCWS title in a decade.
“These decisions were made with an alarming level of haste, without an attempt at de-escalation, and deprived our student-athletes of the leadership they have relied on throughout a historic postseason run.
“This is not about a single call—it’s about process and professionalism. In the biggest moment of the college baseball season, our program and its student-athletes deserved better.”
Schnall, holding up three fingers, left the dugout and approached home-plate umpire Angel Campos regarding some of his calls on pitches. Campos made his ruling and gave Schnall a warning, which got two other umpires involved. Schnall did not stop arguing and got ejected. Schilling was ejected for protesting the decision.
“The NCAA must re-evaluate how it trains, assigns, and reviews umpires in championship environments,” Coastal Carolina stated. “We expect consistency, communication, and the same level of excellence from officials that we demand of our teams. Our players have represented this university, this conference, and college baseball with integrity and heart.”
According to NCAA rules, a coach can get ejected for continuing to argue over pitches.
“Balls, strikes, half swings or decisions about hit-by-pitch situations are not to be argued,” the rulebook reads.
“After a warning, any player or coach who continues to argue balls, strikes, half swings, or a hit-by-pitch situation shall be ejected from the game. Umpires shall record the warning.
“If a coach leaves the dugout or their position to argue a ball or strike call (including a half swing or hit-by-pitch), the coach may be ejected without warning.”
Schnall addressed the incident after the game, stating that his alleged physical contact with an umpire wasn’t called for. One of the umpires tripped when approaching the situation between Schnall and Campos on Sunday.
“There was no bump. I shouldn’t be held accountable for a grown man’s athleticism. Now it’s excessive because I was trying to say I didn’t bump him.
“It is what it is. If that warranted an ejection, there would be a lot of ejections. As umpires, it’s your job to manage the game with some poise and calmness and a little bit of tolerance.”
Schnall will miss three games next season because of the ejection per NCAA rules, and Schilling will miss one game next year. That said, Schnall says he doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.
“As a head coach, it’s your right to get an explanation for why we got warned,” Schnall said.
“I’m 48 years old and I shouldn’t get shooed by another grown man.
“When I came out, I got told it was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes, and I said it was because you missed three. At that point, ejected. If that warrants an ejection, I’m the first one to stand here like a man and apologize.”
LSU head coach Jay Johnson expressed empathy.
“I was ejected for arguing balls and strikes this year, and they don’t like that when you argue balls and strikes. I’m not sure really what happened. I saw the first base coach arguing. Then he came out, and I don’t know what was said. I don’t want to get into any of that.
“It’s a tough situation. But I literally moved past it immediately because I needed to be locked in on what our players needed from our coaching staff.”
