By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Baseball Beat Reporter
San Jose State head coach Brad Sanfilippo was ejected from Sunday’s walk-off win over Saint Louis after contending that Jack Colette’s two-run double in the ninth inning should’ve been ruled a game-tying three home run because the ball landed above the yellow line on the outfield wall.
After the initial call of a double was made all four umpires congregated to decipher if they needed to change the call, but stuck to their original decision.
That’s when Sanfilippo stormed out of the dugout and argued with second base umpire Troy Hodack while his feet were planted on the third base line chalk. He was motioned to stay put by third base umpire Kyle Fecteau and home plate umpire Caden Gaumer before being thrown out first by Hodack and then by Gaumer.
Sanfilippo immediately charged toward Hodack to speak with him face-to-face for an explanation, but Hodack turned and walked the other way. This appeared to only infuriate Sanfilippo even more.
Sanfilppo made multiple attempts to speak to Hodak, but was blocked away each time by Fecteau. After arguing for thirty-plus seconds, Sanfilppo strolled back to the dugout in disgust while being given an ovation by Spartans fans.
A couple pitches after Colette’s double made it 3-2, Nathan Cadena singled Colette home to complete the two-out three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth.
Two innings later, Hunter Dorraugh sent a line-drive into left field to score Charles McAdoo who was waved around to score by substitute head coach Thomas Walker from second as SJSU won on a walk-off in extra innings for the second-straight day.
“The Baseball Gods don’t let free homers go away,” said Dorraugh following his clutch series-sweep clinching hit.
Dorraugh appreciated Sanfilippo’s ninth inning tirade because it made the Spartans feel like Sanfilippo had their back and it brought some liveliness into the dugout after they’d been silenced by SLU’s Chaffen all afternoon.
Chaffen had been one out away from notching a shutout before Colette’s two-run double. Theo Hardy, who scored on the play, was the first Spartan to advance past first base.
“It was cool seeing Jackie come through and of course with Nathan that was a huge swing,” said Dorraugh.
It’s not debatable if Sanfilippo should’ve or shouldn’t have gotten ejected first by Hodak and then by Gaumer. However, Sanflippo deserved an explanation from Hodak, who as second base umpire was in charge of a crucial game-deciding call.
If Hodak walked up to Sanfilippo and told him what he saw on the play then a cooler head might’ve prevailed from SJSU’s skipper. But Hodak turning his back and walking away only further enticed Sanfilippo to put his verbal dukes up.
Some grace should be given to Hodak for the call at question because it was by no means an easy call to make.
That specific part of the ballpark was under a thick veil of shade which made it difficult to distinctly spot the beige ball (likely wasn’t a new white pearl that late in the game) from the yellow line. Hodak also had to make the “game of inches” type call from approximately 200 feet away.
However, in this case, any explanation is better than no explanation.
It was likely the tipping-point for the already ornery Sanfilippo who left the dugout to argue with first base umpire Eric Martinez in the fifth inning.
Sanflippo barked at Martinez about a balk call from the third base line after Colette had been the second runner picked-off at first base by Billikens starting pitcher Owen Chaffen.
In the following video, he can be heard yelling to first base umpire Eric Martinez multiple times, “That’s two base runners!”
You can also hear Martinez retort, “That’s enough” to Sanfilippo multiple times, too.
Both walked back, but clearly animosity was in the air.
It was Sanfilippo’s first ejection of the 2023 season and the umpires will file a report and send it to the Mountain West office for review. There’s a strong chance Sanfilippo will be suspended for Monday afternoon’s game at Santa Clara.
The suspension could be extended to two games depending on how the crew felt about Sanfilippo crossing the third baseline and storming back out to the field toward Hodak.