Published: May 16, 2008 11:46 pm         

Three Wooster coaches ejected in 13th-inning melee

TERRE HAUTE — Friday’s NCAA Division III Mideast Baseball Regional between Wooster and Rose-Hulman degenerated into ugliness in the bottom of the 13th inning.

Wooster eventually won the game 11-8 on a game-winning grand slam by Matthew Johnson, but not before Wooster head coach Tim Pettorini and two assistant coaches were ejected from the game earlier in the inning.

It was a tense, five-minute-plus explosion on the part of Wooster’s coaches and players in the dugout that eventually culminated in Rose-Hulman coach Jeff Jenkins and Wooster first base coach Dan Wyand motioning towards each other in a threatening manner other in front of the Rose-Hulman dugout, leading to Wyand’s ejection.

“Through thick-and-thin, our kids carried themselves with pride and class all of the time, unlike others,” said Jenkins, about 30 minutes after the game ended. “They’re a good ballclub, not a lot of class, but a good ballclub. It’s not a reflection on their players, but they need someone controlling them in that situation.”

The wild scene began with a batter’s interference call on Wooster’s Pat Christensen in the bottom of the 13th. With Rose-Hulman leading 8-7, Wooster’s Sean Karpen ran from first on an apparent hit-and-run play and stole second. However, Christensen checked his swing and home plate umpire Jason Rusznak ruled that Christensen’s bat interfered with Rose-Hulman catcher Keenan Long’s throw to second and Christensen was called out.

Pettorini vaulted out of his third base coaching box and was quickly ejected. Pettorini yelled at Rusznak for a few minutes, kicking dirt on to home plate. During the melee, an unidentified Wooster coach was ejected from the dugout.

After Pettorini was removed from the field, the scene went on for several minutes as Wooster’s players continued to argue, while a few more had to be restrained from leaving the dugout. Wooster’s players and coaches directed some of their ire at the other umpires and at the Rose-Hulman fans on the first-base line.

Wyand was the only Wooster coach left on the field. According to Rose-Hulman first baseman Alex Decker, Wyand had words with him earlier in the game.

“I’m not a regular first baseman, I’m a catcher, always been one, so there were a few times I stepped too far and made contact with some of their players. [Wyand] said I was doing it on purpose. He said it through the whole game, and I had enough, so I tried to explain to him it wasn’t intentional,” Decker said. “He just kept going. He was getting mad at the fans, getting mad at me and that’s when coach Jenkins came out.”

When Jenkins saw Wyand talking to Decker, he came out of the Engineers’ dugout on the first-base side (Rose-Hulman were in the visiting dugout as the lower seed) and motioned towards Wyand.

“He started in on our first baseman and I said, ‘What’s going on here?’ Then he started in on me,” Jenkins said.

Wyand and Jenkins began to approach each other before umpires got in the way.

“The umpires told me to get back, they didn’t want to toss me. I said, ‘Listen, these coaches are out of control, they’re after my players, I’m going to step in and say enough’s enough. You want to go after my team, you go after me first. That’s where it starts. If they want to be that childish, bring it to me first,’” said Jenkins, who is also Rose-Hulman’s athletic director.

Wyand was ejected and continued to argue before leaving the field.

“It was very frustrating,” said Pettorini on the explosion of emotions. “Thirteen innings? My goodness. I feel bad for their kids, they battled, we battled just as hard.”

Wyand was unavailable for comment as Wooster played Heidelberg in an evening elimination game.

Several disputed calls by the umpires and the nature of the elimination game had both teams on edge by the 13th inning. Pettorini had already thrown a rulebook into his dugout in disgust during a sixth-inning dispute over a successful base appeal. Second base umpire Chuck Adya ruled that Rose-Hulman’s Gabe Focke left second base early after he tagged on an Alex Decker one-out sacrifice fly that scored Kirk Thompson from third.

Initially, the umpires ruled that Thompson’s run didn’t count, but the umpiring crew requested a rulebook from a game official in the bleachers, and after a near-10-minute delay to consult it, ruled that the run did count and it was put back on the board, putting Rose-Hulman up 6-5. Pettorini did not accept the explanation of their ruling.

Since the appeal was made after the run from third had scored and after the play was over (a new batter was at the plate when the appeal was made), the run was allowed to count.

“I thought they had it right in the rulebook the way they had originally, but they interpreted it a different way,” Pettorini said. “We read it as a force out, and that way the run shouldn’t have scored, but they didn’t read it that way. I don’t know what else it would be.”