A college baseball umpire turned heads on Monday, when he appeared to push a player who was slow to leave the batter's box while admiring a home run.
East Carolina was well on its way to advancing to the Super Regionals when slugger Bryson Worrell stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning and cracked a three-run homer, extending the Pirates' lead to 13-2.
Worrell, as hitters are wont to do these days, was decidedly deliberate in heading toward first base as he watched his blast sail over the right-field wall.
That's when the home-plate umpire stepped out from behind the dish and put his hand on Worrell's back as if to guide him toward first base.
While the shove didn't appear to be overly forceful or aggressive, it still amounted to a game official putting his hands on a player during live action.
Baseball has seen more than its share of debate over bat flips and admiring home runs in recent years, but this ump clearly seems to have an aversion to such antics on his watch.
While it's typically opposing teams that take exception to what some perceive to be showboating, in this case it was the umpire who decided he'd seen enough.
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