Clemson baseball coach criticizes Florida for’stupid’ illicit substance check.

Following Sunday’s super regional defeat to Florida, Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich went to bat for one of his pitchers and termed the Gators’ late-game request for an illicit substance check on him a “stupid” move. In the bottom of the 10th inning of Clemson’s season-ending loss to Florida, Tigers pitcher Austin Gordon had just completed his career-high 10th strikeout in 4.1 innings when UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan requested that the umpires check the reliever for a possible illicit substance.

At O’Sullivan’s request, lead umpire Billy Van Raaphorst huddled with his crew before approaching Gordon and asking to inspect his hat, which had a prominent dark mark on the brim.

Van Raaphorst examined Gordon’s hat for around 10 seconds before returning it to him without incident, as the home fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium booed O’Sullivan’s decision. The entire wait lasted less than two minutes and was a minor incident in Florida’s exciting 11-10 walk-off victory over Clemson, which ousted the No. 6 overall seed Tigers from the postseason and resulted in the ejection of a Clemson player, Bakich, and special assistant Jack Leggett. Three days later, however, Bakich sought to clarify the allegation that Gordon, Clemson’s top bullpen pitcher, had violated any regulations.

“That was stupid,” Bakich said Wednesday during a season-ending news conference at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. “Florida started it. It was dumb. It is dirt. Gordon licks his fingers, feels the dirt, and touches his cap. Austin Gordon does not use any sticky materials and does not require any. He’s nasty. “That was dumb.”

Was it disappointing to see from O’Sullivan, a former coworker?

“Little bit,” Bakich said. “Whatever.”

Explaining sticky things rules During the review.

The ESPN broadcast crew joked that O’Sullivan, who worked as Leggett’s assistant coach at Clemson from 1999 to 2007 and shared a staff with Bakich in 2002, wasn’t “making any friends in Clemson this weekend” by starting the review.

O’Sullivan requested an illicit substance check after Gordon earned his first strikeout in the bottom of the tenth inning, with Clemson and Florida tied 9-9 and the Gators in a potential walk-off situation, eliciting boos from the fans. During the brief pause, the ESPN broadcast showed several shots of Van Raaphorst, the lead umpire, studying Gordon’s hat and Gordon explaining it, as well as a shot of Bakich appearing unhappy in Clemson’s dugout. “A little gamesmanship, perhaps,” one broadcaster said. “We’ve had a little bit of everything this afternoon,” someone else said.

The ESPN program later included a close-up view of Gordon’s orange hat, which had a prominent dark patch on the brim. Bakich said Wednesday that Gordon has traditionally kissed his fingers before touching the dirt on his cap as part of his pre-pitch warming.

Any collegiate baseball coach has the authority to begin an illicit substance check on an opponent pitcher. The NCAA has been clamping down harder on pitchers who use prohibited substances after the MLB significantly increased its enforcement of the law. Earlier this year, Florida and O’Sullivan conducted a similar investigation against Vanderbilt pitcher JD Thompson, and umpires determined he had an illicit drug on his forearm. Thompson was ejected from the SEC game in April and earned a four-game suspension under NCAA regulations.