What Tim Corbin said about Vanderbilt baseball ground-rule double fog controversy
Here's how Tim Corbin explained the controversy involving a ground-rule double call in the fog against Missouri.
Coach Tim Corbin said Vanderbilt baseball probably should not have been playing when a potential go-ahead home run ball was lost in fog against Missouri May 8. The Commodores were trailing, 7-6, in the top of the ninth inning with two on and two outs. Braden Holcomb hit a ball to deep right field, but nobody was able to locate the ball due to foggy conditions.
An umpire originally called it a home run, but it was changed to a ground-rule double after a conference with the umpires. The game was then suspended, and Vanderbilt ultimately lost the game, 8-7, after it resumed the next day. "We're all wishing that ball went over the fence, or better yet, maybe it was found on the field, because if it was found on the field, then it's an inside-the-park home run," Corbin said after a 9-1 win over South Carolina on May 14.
"But it was none of those. "It was just a situation where we probably shouldn't have been playing. " The decision of whether to delay a game that has already started lies with the umpires.
The umpire in that game, Corbin said, told him and Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson that it was their call whether to continue the game. According to Corbin, the umpire said that he did not believe the teams should still be playing. But Jackson told the umpire, "They played in it defensively, we should play in it defensively too.