Umpires and referees are blamed all the time for wanting a team to win a game.

But blaming ESPN? That’s something you don’t see every day. And you especially don’t see a 12-year-old firing off such conspiracy theories.

During the sixth and final inning of Saturday’s Little League World Series elimination game between Iowa and Washington, Iowa pitcher Colin Townsend, 12, had just given up a walk where two runners were on the bases with the tying run coming up to bat. There were two outs with Iowa leading 6-3.

As Iowa Manager Dave McFate approached the mound to have a meeting with Townsend and the infield defenders, Townsend channeled his inner Donald Trump and blamed the home-plate umpire for working for ESPN, which “likes” comebacks, and therefore giving the previous batter a walk.

“This is for ESPN … It’s for ESPN so they can comeback (sic) … Because ESPN likes this,” said Townsend. “All ESPN.”

McFate dismissed the conspiracy theory.

“Nothing we can do about that strike call, okay? There’s two outs … We gotta shake that, we gotta shake that,” said McFate, who was micd-up.

The home-plate umpire approached the mound to tell McFate to wrap it up.

“Hey, focus right here. Focus right here on me,” said McFate as the umpire left the mound. “Shake it. Shake it, okay? We need one out … let’s go, you can do this. You can do this. You can do this.”

Townsend and his Iowa teammates went on to win the game, 6-3. Iowa won on Sunday against Utah, 10-2.

Watch above, via ESPN.

(h/t Brandon Contes)

The post WATCH: Hot Mic Catches Conspiracy-Minded 12-Year-Old Pitcher Accusing ESPN of Fixing the Little League World Series first appeared on Mediaite.

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