After an 11-7 win by the Nicholls Colonels on Feb. 6, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders issued a rules protest to the Southland Conference.
The protest by the Islanders stems from a play in the bottom of the first inning. A Texas A&M-Corpus Christi batter was originally ruled to have been hit by a pitch and awarded first base. Nicholls challenged the call, leading the umpires to review the play on video. After the review, the umpires decided that the batter was hit by the pitch but had also swung at it. Because of the swing, the play was ruled a dead ball strike, and the batter was returned to home plate with a 1-1 count.
Following the review, the Southland Conference issued an official statement today announcing the nullification of the game, stating that “an NCAA playing rule was incorrectly applied during the contest.”
The Southland Conference determined that the umpires were not permitted to review the video footage after the play.
“Under NCAA Baseball Rules and video review protocol under Appendix E, check swings are not reviewable. As a result, the review exceeded the scope permitted under NCAA rules and the original on field ruling should have been upheld,” the statement read.
The statement says the game will be resumed from the point of interruption with the Colonels leading 1-0. The protested game will resume at a later date which hasn’t been announced.
The rest of the series (games 2 and 3), will be played today at Chapman Field in Corpus Christi, Texas starting at 1p.m.
The statement also ruled that the umpires involved in the game are to be suspended for “failing to properly apply NCAA replay review procedures.”
Read the official statement from the Southland Conference Facebook page here.