The Tennessee Volunteers are off to the Super Regionals for the fifth straight time after defeating Wake Forest 11-5 in a winner-take-all matchup on Monday night.
While the vibes were great and the performance memorable, something happened late in the game that is unfortunate and impactful for the Vols’ chances of knocking off the Arkansas Razorbacks and returning to Omaha.
Catcher Cannon Peebles struck out in the eighth inning and was walking back towards the dugout. He then turned back around and appeared to yell something back to where the umpire and Wake Forest catcher were standing. Whatever he said was enough to get him tossed from the game. And under NCAA rules, that means Peebles will be suspended from the Vols’ first Super Regional matchup against the Hogs on Saturday.
Tony Vitello confirmed after the game that Peebles was directing his comments not at the umpire, but at the Wake Forest catcher.
NCAA rules mandate that if a player is suspended in a tournament game, they are automatically disqualified for the next contest, so that’s why Peebles’ barking back at the Wake Forest player after the strikeout will see him on the bench to start the most important weekend of the year for Tennessee.
It’s a bit of a harsh penalty by the NCAA and has come under scrutiny this week for a different and more outrageous situation in the Athens regional. Duke’s AJ Gracia hit a home run and took the Blue Devils’ home run prop construction helmet as a result. After Duke tied it later that inning, he ran two steps out onto the field to celebrate, which was a rule violation that resulted in an ejection and a 1-game suspension. Duke’s head coach rightfully torched the NCAA for the ejection/suspension.
In any event, both Duke and Tennessee are going to have to figure out how to navigate their Super Regional openers without two keys players in situations that, frankly, could have both been avoided with a little bit more situational awareness.