Two Texas A&M University baseball fans were ejected from a College World Series game Saturday for taunting Florida’s baseball coach over his peripheral ties to a double-murder and suicide three years ago.
As reported by NBC News, the incident unfolded during the first inning of a rain-delayed Aggies-Gators game at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. A close play at third base went against Florida, and ESPN cameras were focused on the Gators’ dugout to see whether Florida would challenge the umpire's call. But what they captured were two men wearing A&M shirts, leaning into Florida's dugout and screaming at Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan before stadium security peeled them away.
According to the Gainesville Sun, the taunts were related to the May 2021 deaths of Rex Reinhart, 14, and Brody Reinhart, 11. Brody regularly served as a batboy for Florida.
The hecklers will not return for the remainder of the 2024 CWS, but CWS attendance beyond this year is uncertain.
“Those folks were banned and barred from the stadium, so they will no longer be attending any more games,” Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci told NBC News on Monday. Their future CWS attendance will be decided by ballpark management, local law enforcement and the NCAA, a stadium official said.
"We're having ongoing discussions on that, but the last I understand, this [stadium ban] will likely be for a year," said Kristyna Engdahl, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority, which operates the stadium.
The union representing Omaha police officers decried the incident and urged tournament organizers to make sure the A&M fans never get into another CWS game.
"Heckling an opposing baseball team about the tragic death of their batboy is beyond unacceptable. Glad our officers and security threw this duo out of Charles Schwab Field. You’re no longer welcome in this city and should be banned for life from future College World Series," the statement says, as reported by the Gainesville News.
Per the report by David Li of NBC, in early May 2021, medical sales executive Paul Otto Reinhart, 46, killed his two young sons and himself after having recently separated from Minde Reinhart, his wife of nearly 20 years.
O'Sullivan was a family friend of Reinhart's, and one of the slain boys had been a Gators batboy.
The boys' mother went on to marry O'Sullivan and form a foundation named after the victims.
Eric Sorenson, a writer who follows college baseball, said the two A&M fans were "saying that he killed someone" and that he should "be ashamed" of himself before stadium security moved in. NBC's Li reported.
