There was a scary moment during Friday’s college baseball game between Vanderbilt and Alabama when the umpire took a blistering foul tip straight to the head.
This was the second game of the two SEC teams’ series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa, and in the bottom of the second inning, Alabama was already up 3-0.
Alabama’s Brennan Holt took a swing at the 1-0 offering and got a piece of it, but that sent it straight into the face of umpire Scott Kennedy, and he went down hard.
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According to The Tennessean, trainers from both teams rushed out to assist Kennedy, and that caused a 15-minute delay in the game.
Fortunately, he was eventually able to walk off the field under his own power and was replaced by one of the other umpires behind the plate.
Umpire Scott Kennedy reported walking off the field under his own power after taking a foul ball to the mask on Friday in Tuscaloosa. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
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After the game — which the Crimson Tide won handily, 5-0 — Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn sent his best to Kennedy and said that he had heard from his team’s trainers that he was going to be all right.
Man, this is just one of those reminders that being a home plate umpire is no joke.
Believe me, I like goofing on them when they mess up as much as the next guy, especially in MLB’s ABS era, but it takes some serious stones to get behind the plate.
Most of us would have no problem getting behind the plate for a Little League game, but once you get to the high school, college and pro ranks, the number of volunteers would likely start to shrink.
Friday’s Alabama-Vanderbilt baseball game was delayed for fifteens minutes after umpire Scott Kennedy took a foul ball to the face, (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire)
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I don’t think I’d want to stand back there, not with how hard pitchers can throw and how hard batters can swing.
So hopefully things are going to be OK for Scott Kennedy because, man, that was scary.
