If you ever screw up, hope that the announcers for Mercer Bears baseball don’t see you do it. They will be relentless.
Ben Upton found that out the hard way on Thursday. The co-founder of the college baseball podcast 11Point7 was standing atop the Green Monster at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina, as the Mercer Bears took on The Citadel Bulldogs in the Southern Conference Tournament. He was in a prime position to catch a 9th-inning home run by the amazingly named Titan Kamaka.
However, despite having an unobstructed opportunity to make the catch, Upton muffed it, and the ball sailed through his hands. And all of this was captured by cameras and witnessed by the Mercer play-by-play announcer, who refused to discuss anything else.
A solo shot for Titan Kamaka.#GoodToGreat | #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/N7MHtE8IV3
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 21, 2026
“Kamaka to left field, will the ballpark hold it? It will not,” said the play-by-play announcer. “And the guy standing atop the monster really could have made a better effort on that.”
The color commentator tried to bring the conversation back to the game at hand, but the announcer couldn’t let it go.
“Well, you see the offensive explosion that this team is fully capable of,” said the analyst.
“The ball was hit right to that guy,” interjected the announcer.
For his part, Upton was distraught about the missed opportunity, and that was before he even knew he’d been absolutely torched on the broadcast.
“Worst moment of my life,” wrote Upton on X. “Had a chance to catch a HR ball sitting on the green monster and blew it. Simply blew it. Got buried by the announcer too.”
The good news is that it looks like the Southern Conference hooked Upton up with some freebies for his troubles on what is apparently the Mercer alum’s birthday.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.