Indiana second baseman Tyler Cerny gets ejected from Lexington Regional with Kentucky after bringing celebration necklace on the field

The umpires in the Lexington Regional matchup between the Kentucky Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers certainly didn’t win over any fans on Saturday night. Hoosiers catcher Peter Serruto blasted a pivotal three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, to take a 4-3 advantage in the game. As you might imagine, the Hoosiers players were fired up about it. Once Serruto got back to the Indiana dugout, he was greeted by his Hoosier teammates and second baseman Tyler Cerny brought a celebration necklace out on the field to put on Serruto.

If you want to see a replay of the ejection you can check out the video below.

Bottom 7 | @IndianaBase catcher Peter Serruto with maybe the most important hit of his career, a three run shot on a full count with two outs. Afterwards, it looks like freshman 2B Tyler Cerney was ejected for something involving the celebration. Will clarify later. 4-3 IU. pic.twitter.com/WcvRFiv1qH

— Burke Granger (@burkegranger) June 4, 2023

Once that happened, the umpires took a few minutes to confer with both head coaches and decided that Cerny would be ejected from the game. He was escorted by a Kentucky escort through the center field wall in Lexington. Cerny was then replaced by Evan Gofourth in the game for the Hoosiers.

It’s pretty disappointing that bringing a celebration necklace on the field is an ejectable offense. Props make the game fun and exciting for players and fans. But apparently, the NCAA wants no part of that. The umpires were simply doing their jobs. There is a rule in place that players cannot bring props onto the field of play. It still seemed like a harmless celebration.

Due to the ejection, Cerny will likely also serve a suspension in Indiana’s next game in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers ended up defeating Kentucky 5-3 on Saturday night. With the win, they advanced to the Regional Final on Sunday. That one will be played at 6:00 PM EST. If Indiana can win on Sunday, they’ll advance to their first Super Regional since 2013.

Earlier this year, he became Indiana’s second freshman to earn Freshman of the Week honors in the Big Ten. In a five-game span, Cerny posted a .444 batting average. Three of his five extra-base hits were home runs during that time frame, including two home runs in the Hoosiers’ 17-2 beatdown of the Ohio Bobcats.

Cerny made his first collegiate start when Indiana throttled Auburn 13-5. He singled, stole a base, and scored two runs for the Hoosiers. He also delivered four hits in a mid-April matchup with the Illinois Fighting Illini. Cerny’s been having a sensational freshman campaign and he’s also one of his team’s best when it comes to stealing bases.