Omaha, Neb. -- There's a bit of tragic irony to how Florida State baseball's College World Series opener played out Friday night.
The Seminoles were the victim of a tough call against them in the ninth inning vs. No. 1 overall seed Tennessee when a check-swing appeal that would have clinched an 11-9 win was called a ball when it sure looked like the batter went around.
Two pitches later, Blake Burke tied the game up with a two-run single. And two at-bats after that, Dylan Dreiling won the game for the Volunteers on a RBI double.
This contentious, controversial ending on a check-swing appeal comes less than a year after FSU head coach Link Jarrett was advocating to NCAA rules officials that those exact calls should be made reviewable going forward.
"This started back in September, I said every camera in the stadium has a view of that. Now you have some plays that come up that are not captured. Those are captured," Jarrett said to a group of FSU media members Saturday afternoon. "It's a very, very difficult call. I think in umpiring, it is the hardest of calls to make. Even the guy on the open side that has to make that, it is not an easy call. You could argue that specific call, because of the advancement in technology, I think that's something that should be put in.
"I think it should be in the big leagues, I think it should be in college. We have the technology. Everything is on home plate so you're going to get some good looks at it. 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."
It's a change that would certainly be controversial to some baseball fans, coaches and players. But Jarrett's logic is well founded. With as many cameras as are shooting constantly during in-stadium and television broadcasts, there would probably be at least a few different angles of home plate that would probably give a good idea of whether or not a batter swung, much like replay is used to determine safe/out calls, whether players were tagged or not and if balls are fair or foul.
Now, the other issue is that what exactly what constitutes as a swing. It seems people believe the determining factor is anything from whether the barrel of the bat crosses past midway on the plate, whether a batter's wrists flip over or if it's about if the barrel passes the batter's front hip, which is what the NCAA rulebook says is the determining factor.
Jarrett says the initial feedback he got was positive. And yet, nothing was enacted before the 2024 season.
"They thought it was a great idea. That's what I got. And I said, 'Let's do it,'" Jarrett said.
Especially with it looming in such a large moment, maybe it's something that could be addressed this offseason. Jarrett didn't come off as especially critical of the umpires in his conversation Saturday afternoon. Instead, it was more about trying to give them the assistance they need to make sure calls like that are made correctly, especially in such a big spot.
"That's a hard call. We have to umpire our own scrimmages and when you try to make these calls with the kind of bat speed and where guys stand in the box, it's different. The plate is in different spots based on how far forward they are. Those are extremely difficult," Jarrett said. "We've seen it in different games at the major league level and 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."
