The biggest story this weekend for Georgia should've been how they went 3-0 in the Athens Regional to advance to the Super Regional. Unfortunately they are wrapped up in some drama after star infielder Tre Phelps was ejected from Sunday's 6-1 win over Liberty which results in a suspension for Georgia's first game of the Super Regional this coming weekend.
Phelps was thrown out of the game after the home plate umpire thought he was taunting the Liberty dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth. According to head coach Wes Johnson though, he was actually gesturing towards his parents who were sitting right behind their dugout.
Don't tell Liberty head coach Bradley LeCroy that though, because he still felt the umpire made the right call even after the game was over.
“I don’t have anything to do with the ejection, but I’m going to protect our guys 100%,” Liberty head coach Bradley LeCroy said via dawgnation.com. “He made remarks to our dugout and looked straight at our dugout.”
Liberty head coach can't explain why Tre Phelps was ejected
If Phelps actually gestured towards the Liberty dugout and said something to them then there would be a legit argument for why he should have been thrown out of the game. But even by the time of this press conference after the game everyone already knew Phelps was just celebrating with his parents in the stands.
Everyone except for LeCroy who was specifically asked what Phelps said, and it turns out he has no clue.
“I’m not sure. It’s... 3,633 yelling at the top of their lungs, but obviously it wasn’t good,” LeCroy said. “At the end of the day, my guys know I have their backs and I’m going to protect them.”
Even Liberty designated hitter Riley DeCandido was asked what Phelps said, and he didn’t offer anything of substance either.
“It was a big swing. I’m all about celebrating with your team. But when you turn to our dugout and say what he said, I think it was warranted,” said DeCandido.
So what actually happened? Did Phelps actually say something to the Liberty dugout? Or did he gesture to his parents in the stands and celebrate a huge moment in his career with them?
Based on all the information that has come out it seems very likely that he was just celebrating with his parents. In the moment though there was no way for LeCroy to know this, so it makes sense for him to be a bit upset if he thought Phelps was disrespecting his team.
But he had enough time after this incident to think about what happened, and if no one from Liberty knows that Phelps said then maybe he didn't say anything at all.
Liberty will head home now after losing to Georgia twice this weekend. The Bulldogs however will march on as they advance to the Super Regional where they will take on 14-seed Mississippi State, who they're 4-0 against this season, in a best-of-three series that will begin Friday night in Athens.
Georgia however will be without Phelps for the first game of this series because NCAA rules force a one game suspension on a player if they are ejected.
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