A D1 umpire friend of mine who lives in southern Cal. (he used to live out here several years ago) called me this morning to talk about his yearly visit here next month. Among things we discussed was the play in question. My friend knows and has worked with a couple of the guys on the TX-ASU crew. One of my buddy's regular season partners, a Super Regional Umpire himself this year, spoke to the crew chief of this game in question. Here's what my friend Frank told me that his partner Bill had said:
- The plate umpire forgot the count when he made the call; he thought it was ball 3, which was why he called batter interference
- In the crew meeting, the crew chief said he didn't have interference on the play in the first place and wanted to let the play stand as it happened on the field
- The PU said there was no way he was going to reverse his interference call; he was sticking with it
The first point above tells me what I've been saying all along--the PU mistakenly ruled this batter interference, which it was not. Consequently, the call but more importantly the ruling was incorrect.