Fans Heckle College World Series Coach Over Deaths

The men, caught by ESPN cameras, are barred from the rest of the games
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2024 4:10 PM CDT
Fans Barred for Taunting Coach Over Slayings
Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan before an NCAA regional championship baseball game against Central Michigan in 2022 in Gainesville, Fla.   (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, File)

Two fans have been barred from the rest of the College World Series after taunting a coach over the murder-suicide that took the lives of his wife's sons. ESPN cameras caught the vicious heckling during the University of Florida's game against Texas A&M in Omaha on Saturday night: two men in Aggies shirts leaning into the Gators dugout and screaming at head coach Kevin O'Sullivan, NBC News reports. "Those folks were banned and barred from the stadium so they will no longer be attending any more games," Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said Monday.

The boys, 14 and 11, one of whom had been a batboy for Florida, were killed in 2021 by their father, who then killed himself. Sullivan was a family friend who later married their mother. A sportswriter at the game said the men were yelling that Sullivan had killed someone and should be ashamed. "I want to apologize on behalf of Texas A&M for whatever the heck went on over there in that dugout," Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle said after the game, per the Gainesville Sun. "Whoever those two guys are, they don't represent what Texas A&M is all about, and whoever they are, just don't come back." A stadium official said whether the men may attend in future years will be decided by law enforcement, the NCAA, and stadium management. (More College World Series stories.)

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