In the early session of Friday’s College World Series action, Oregon State was thoroughly robbed in the bottom of the third, after scoring a run to bring the score to 2-1, advantage LSU. Beavers center fielder Steven Kwan then raked a looper to deep left, and it struck the yellow foul line, which technically makes that a fair ball.
College World Series sees ball hit to exact same spot in 2 straight games. One fair, one foul
This is surreal.
That didn’t prompt an official replay review — even though it absolutely should have — and Oregon State went on to lose 3-1 to LSU.
In the evening session between Florida and TCU, then, the Gators trailed, 2-1, in the bottom of the third, but came back to tie the game thanks to a strong Dalton Guthrie offering into extreme left. Like, EXTREME left. So extreme left that this ball strikes the left field fence — directly on the yellow — exactly one foot above where Kwan had hit his ball earlier in the afternoon.
That is a fair ball. Kwan’s was called foul on the field and no one reviewed it. Guthrie’s was called fair on the field and they reviewed it, and it was confirmed as such.
Here then we witness the intersection of technological improvement of sports’ precision and the dumb human error that can always already preclude technology’s involvement in sports. Plays like this — and Oregon State will probably agree here — should be mandatorily reviewed in college baseball, as are certain plays in college football.
TCU ripped off two more runs in the top of the fourth, and the Frogs sit on top, 4-2, in the bottom of the frame.
