Cline to umpire College World Series

Portland’s Scottie Cline has achieved a lot in his 40-plus years. A 1988 PHS graduate, Cline was a three sport standout while wearing the Purple and White. After high school, Cline attended Maryville College where he was recently inducted into the school’s wall of fame.

However, one his biggest honors yet will occur this Saturday. Cline was one of eight college umpires nationwide chosen to umpire at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Cline started umpiring at the age of 17 and has worked his way to the college level. The next week and a half at college baseball’s national tournament is the pinnacle most can only dream about.

“It is the pinnacle of college baseball,” Cline said earlier this week. “It’s everybody’s goal to reach the College World Series and it was a long haul for me.”

There are approximately 2500 Division One umpires nationwide with 96 chosen to umpire the regionals and 32 picked for the super regionals.

But only eight are chosen for the World Series.

“We get evaluated every year and by my evaluation, they chose me to go,” Cline explained. “I’ve been umpiring SEC games for 15 years and most of those are on television. So I’m used to being on the big stage.”

There are eight teams that reach the World Series. Each umpire will work one game a day until the teams start to get eliminated in the double elimination tournament.

Cline is used to umpiring big games. He has worked at the college level for 17 years including a couple of games in the Southeastern Conference championship games.

Cline was behind the plate last month when Texas A &M defeated Florida for the SEC baseball title in Hoover Alabama.

“That was my second time umpiring the SEC championship but the first time behind the plate,” Cline pointed out. “I’m not really nervous yet but that might change when I get out there Saturday. You want to do well on the big stage. So I will probably have some butterflies.”