OMAHA, Neb. — After a controversial check-swing call helped pave the way for No. 1 Tennessee to stage a ninth-inning rally Friday night in the opening round of the College World Series, Florida State coach Link Jarrett is optimistic the NCAA will make those plays reviewable by instant replay in the future.
This is not a new stance for Jarrett, the Seminoles’ second-year head coach explained Saturday afternoon.
It is not something he is only advocating for now that FSU came out on the wrong side of such a call in a 12-11, walk-off loss to the Volunteers.
“I’ve pushed with the umpiring groups for a review of the check swing,” Jarrett said. “I would like to be able to challenge that. I told them … this started back in September. I said, ‘Every camera in the stadium has a view of that.’ You have some random plays come up that are not captured (by cameras) — those are captured. And it’s a very, very difficult call.
“I think in umpiring, it is the hardest of calls to make.”
Jarrett, whose Seminoles were clinging to an 11-9 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning when umpires ruled that Tennessee batter Blake Burke checked his swing at a 2-2 pitch with two outs, said he doesn’t blame umpires for not getting the call correct by using only their eyes in real time.
He thinks some of those calls are simply too challenging for the first- and third-base umpires to make. And he said he knows that first-hand from when Florida State’s staffers umpire their own intrasquad scrimmages.
“When you try to make these calls, with the kind of bat speed and where guys stand in the box, it’s different,” Jarrett said. “So the plate is in different spots based on how forward and back they (the hitters) are. So those are extremely difficult. We’ve seen it in critical games at the major-league level, in our games. I think it’s something that should be a challengeable call.
“Whether the umpires want to review it themselves to get it right, or whether we want to put it under the umbrella of a coach’s challenge … because of the visibility of that part of the field, I think it would be one of the most efficiently reviewed plays.”
When he brought the idea up last fall, Jarrett said, the reception from college umpiring officials was overwhelmingly positive.
“They thought it was a great idea,” he said.
Now, he hopes it will get adopted like other reviewable plays.
And because Friday’s call occurred at such a pivotal moment and on the biggest stage in college baseball, there could be more momentum than ever for it to become a reality.
“Because of the advancement in technology, I think that’s something that should be put in,” Jarrett said. “I think it should be in the big leagues, I think it should be in college. We have the technology. Everything’s [focused] on home plate. So you’re gonna get some good looks at it. And now you know why I have fought for that.
“It’s no different than an out at first base or a tag play. Those outs are critical, and that clearly couldn’t be more critical.”
As he said late Friday after Florida State lost the game and fell into the elimination bracket, Jarrett isn’t pinning the loss on that one check-swing call. The Seminoles had several opportunities earlier in the game to either expand their lead — which was five runs at one point — or to quiet Tennessee rallies.
And as the Seminoles prepare for an elimination game Sunday against Virginia, Jarrett is encouraging his players to focus on those missed opportunities more than one call by the umpires.
“It’s tough,” Jarrett said. “You remember how the game ended far more than you remember how the game started. There were plays that we needed to make that would have changed the course of [Jamie Arnold’s] start, the back end of the game, and we didn’t. We didn’t handle some of the things that needed to be handled.
“And as you do that, and create opportunities for them and add pitch count to your starters and put more stress on the defense … it adds up. So the end of the game was one piece of the game. But you can go back to moments in the game and at-bats in the game where, if it was a little better, maybe this is not a conversation of trying to hang on to a three-run lead or a two-run lead or a one-run lead or a tie game. You may have put this thing away.”
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