Tag: High school baseball

Tennessee high school baseball playoffs are back in the national news cycle for less than favorable circumstances after two teams had the season cut short due to an on-field fight.

The TSSA reprimanded Elizabethton and Unicoi County for the incident that took place on Saturday’s Division 1-3A playoffs.

According to TVA Credit Union Ballpark reports, the fight began during the close game when a Unicoi County player and an Elizabethton player had a brief altercation at third base following a hit. Within seconds, a punch was thrown, which led to the benches clearing and the scuffle escalating.

Grainy video of the fight made its way onto social media.

The game was suspended in the seventh inning after the umpires and coaches broke up the brawl, which meant Sunday’s District 1-3A championship game had to be postponed.

In the aftermath, the schools stated a “unified” proposal was made to the TSSA’s Gene Menes regarding the punishment, while the association reviewed the events and reports before proceeding.

By Monday, the fate of both schools had been determined:

• Unicoi County was fined $1,250
• The baseball team was placed on restrictive probation for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year.
• The team is also on probation for the 2023-2024 school year.
• Elizabethton was fined $1,750
• The baseball team is on restrictive probation for the rest of this school year as well
• Elizabethton is under two years of probation until the 2024-2025 school year.

According to reports, Unicoi County will appeal the ruling.

The ruling marks the second time during the 2023 playoffs the TSSA needed to make a judgment on a team that resulted in a premature end to the season.

But this scenario was not as trivial as going one pitch over the allotted pitch count—which happened last week in the game between Ensworth and Father Ryan.

Instead, the nature of the altercation was more severe and the punishment handed down seemed to match the violation of the TSSAA’s unsportsmanlike conduct by-laws. 

A Tennessee High School Division II-AA three-game playoff series has been cast into the national spotlight after Ensworth’s pitcher Connor Cobb tossed a no-hit gem to tie the series with Father Ryan at 1-1.

While you’d expect the buzz to be focused on the Vanderbilt commit’s masterpiece, that’s not the case. Instead, it was Cobb’s final pitch—No. 121 on the day— that caused a stir.

In short: it was one pitch too many under TSSAA’s rules.

Per the TSSAA rulebook, the pitch count rule allows for an athlete to throw no more than 120 pitches in one day.

Ensworth’s coach Jason Maxwell called the association the following day and reported the infraction, which led to the forfeit of the series and a shocking end to the season.

As The Tennesessaon’s Tom Kreager reported, it sounds like this occurrence—though odd—isn’t uncommon:

[Gene] Menees reiterated that the TSSAA’s rule is 120 pitches and has been “as long as there has been a pitch count rule.” Menees said the first year of the rule pitchers were permitted to finish the batter at the plate. That changed after one year. The pitch count rule began in 2017.

Menees said the TSSAA sees pitch count violations submitted to its Hermitage office each year. He said it’s more common in the playoffs.

Father Ryan now advances to the Mid Region round, where they’ll play Lipscomb Academy.

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