Samford baseball player's home run taunts make Mercer team so mad it pulls players from field in protest

No baseball game got more heated on Saturday than a Southern Conference tournament matchup between Samford and Mercer.

The fun began when Samford center-fielder Michael Gupton crushed a two-run homer to straightaway center field to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 5-1. Gupton was animated as he ran the bases, to put it lightly, yelling something at both Mercer shortstop Bradley Frye and the Mercer dugout.

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Neither of Gupton's targets were happy as he crossed home plate for an enthusiastic celebration with his teammates. Frye had to be pushed back by umpires as he tried to follow Gupton and respond, while the livid Mercer coaches expressed their ire to the umpires.

And then Mercer started taking its players off the field in protest, while multiple members of their team had to be restrained in the dugout. This might be the maddest a single baseball team has collectively been in years.

The matter became so contentious that Southern Conference commissioner Michael Cross made his way down to the field to speak with the umpires.

An umpire review led to the ejections of both Gupton and Frye. Mercer pitching coach Tanner Gordon and Samford assistant coach Gil Walker were also shown the door, as was Frye's mother after she jumped on top of the dugout following her son's ejection. More Mercer fans followed her lead and went onto the dugout roof, earning an ejection.

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The whole matter resulted paused the game for nearly 25 minutes.

That wasn't the end of the animosity either.

Samford ended up getting the last laugh, winning 5-1 and advancing to the SoCon championship game, where they will face top seed ETSU, who beat the Bulldogs 14-8 earlier Saturday.