Story
Baseball: Athletic director says 45-0 rout was unavoidable
Monday, April 11, 2011
by
Matt Porter
Berean Christian's softball team has won a first-round playoff game in each of the past four seasons.
Its baseball team has not been as fortunate.
In one of the largest routs in recent high school baseball, Berean Christian lost 45-0 to District 12-1A rival Summit Christian on Monday afternoon.
Summit's Shane Swanson, Sam Murphy and Timmy Williams hit home runs for the Saints (15-4).
Berean Christian (2-11) has beaten Morningside Academy and Community Christian's junior varsity teams this season. Athletic Director Keith Huisman said the baseball team has just 11 total players, including four or five players who have never played before.
"There's nothing we could do about it," Huisman said. "There's no such thing as a routine ground ball for us."
The National Federation of High Schools rule book - used by most states, including Florida - states a game ends when a team is up by 10 runs after five innings, or 4½ if the home team is ahead.
Rule 4, Section 2, Article 4 NFHS rule book states a game can be ended early with the agreement of both coaches and the umpire. However, the Florida High School Athletic Association has modified that rule and does not allow coaches to end a game before it becomes official.
Neither Summit Christian coach John Drouin nor Berean Christian coach Jordan Pino could be reached for comment. Huisman, who did not attend the game, believes Summit tried to keep the score down.
"From what I understand, they just went station-to-station. They didn't take extra bases or anything like that. It's tough to tell a team to not play hard," Huisman said. "You can't tell a kid to walk down the first-base line. That's counterintuitive to playing good baseball."
It's unclear where this rout ranks in Florida high school baseball history.
According to the NFHS, the largest margin of victory in national history occurred in Iowa in 1928, when Atlantic High beat Griswold High 109-0. That game was not played with a mercy rule. Among recent routs, a Dallas-area school beat a district rival 54-0 in five innings on March 9, which was reportedly the largest rout in Texas history.
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User Comments:
Really commented on April 12, 2011 at 8:13 a.m.: report abuse
Should Berean even be putting those kids in a position like that. Summit is a state powerhouse and to let kids who have never played before go up against a team like that is unfair to the kids. If Summit was really not taking extra bases than I applaud them. Though I wonder why the umps didn't end the game early.
sportsfan commented on April 12, 2011 at 9:01 a.m.: report abuse
That is ridiculous. "However, Rule 4, Section 2, Article 4 says a game can be ended early with the agreement of both coaches and the umpire" Why wasn't this used? There are other ways, than just not taking extra bases. Walk off, bat opposite handed, illegal substiution (that puts it on the coach). Are they afraid of messing with their batting averages? are they proud of themselves?
Error commented on April 12, 2011 at 9:10 a.m.: report abuse
I think the only error here was a scheduling error.
Game should not have been scheduled at all.
baseball is a game of timing and routine....summit should not have asked their kids to bat opposite hand or do anyting that could hurt their swing(not their BA, but their swings)
this could have been a great opportunity for summit to move up some youngsters for a game and give the Vets(seniors and juniors) a rest. But who ever does play should be allowed to have REAL at bats, and then run base to base(not extra bases)
Family commented on April 12, 2011 at 9:16 a.m.: report abuse
Summit and Berean are in the same district, they have to play each other
Lil Red commented on April 12, 2011 at 9:35 a.m.: report abuse
Why would Berean even field a team if they can't be more competetive? It's dangerous for those kids to be out there and not be able to catch a ball. Summit did nothing wrong. All of the youngsters played almost the complete game. Maybe Berean should be allowed to only play JV teams until they can field a team that can compete at the varsity level. Who ever has the authority to allow some of these small schools to compete at the varsity level should monitor it a little closer before a young man is hurt badly. Unfortunately that is probably what it will take.
... commented on April 12, 2011 at 11:59 a.m.: report abuse
Seriously? What, is Summit just supposed to take it easy? It's high school sports, it's competitive. As Herm Edwards would say "you play to win the game!"
This isn't tee-ball, if you can't handle losing, do something about it. practice harder on the field and in the weightroom, and watch more film.
I don't care if I was up or down 100-0, I'd still try my hardest every single time. IT"S A COMPETITIVE SPORT, YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!
Been on both sides of blowouts commented on April 12, 2011 at 1:09 p.m.: report abuse
These kinds of blowouts are becoming more common in high school sports. The d-bag who says to practice harder has no clue as to the vast differences in talent there can be between schools, especially since the FHSAA does next to nothing about the illegal recruting that goes on. What the FHSAA needs to do in both baseball and softball is go to a mandatory mercy rule of a 15 run lead after three innings.
sportsfan commented on April 12, 2011 at 1:25 p.m.: report abuse
@been on both sides of blowouts: agree with your whole comment and add that FHSAA maybe needs to adjust rules for schools that struggle with fielding teams. The unintended consequences of Title IX is that many schools are fielding teams to keep up with the numbers games of equality for girls and boys. Whether that is the case here or not, sportsmanship is still a must for high school sports...period.
No controversy commented on April 12, 2011 at 1:25 p.m.: report abuse
I applaud the Berean coach for not complaining or whining.
^^^ commented on April 12, 2011 at 1:30 p.m.: report abuse
Actually I DO know, because I have been on both sides of blowouts as well. What does a mercy rule accomplish? It teaches kids that when you're winning, to take it easy to make the other team feel better? NO college will recruit a player who does that. Yeah, it sucks to be blown out, but you play to win the game.
I have been blown out more times than I've blown others out, and I would be mad when the referees (football) would keep running the clock to help keep the score down.
These are kids trying to get into college...telling them to bat switch, or to stop trying when they have a big lead teaches them the wrong things. There's a difference between bad sportsmanship and just trying hard every single play no matter what.
Help commented on April 12, 2011 at 2:16 p.m.: report abuse
They should end the team from the school.
Anthony Salerni commented on April 12, 2011 at 2:18 p.m.: report abuse
no more baseball for this school
Summit bound commented on April 12, 2011 at 3:45 p.m.: report abuse
this game was a joke. This team should not comeout hear and do that to there self that was a massacre and they went up there hitting from there oppisite sides. They should not let them play if they dnt go to practice!! I mean the kids were lobing the ball in the strike zone wat do u think is gna happen!!! Idk y people are making such a big deal about this!!!
next year said commented on April 12, 2011 at 5:26 p.m.: report abuse
Next year Summit will have to play in a real district that has a lot of strong teams. Does heritage ring a bell. Could have ended that period no excuses.
next year? commented on April 12, 2011 at 7:11 p.m.: report abuse
Well, if there is a next year for Summit. No one seems quite sure if Summit will even exist next year.
At least they don't have to worry about Trinity for a few seasons.
Summit bound commented on April 12, 2011 at 7:36 p.m.: report abuse
were gna be open next year and if we do play yall it will be a good game dnt act like they would blow us out of the water! Not gna happen
Digger commented on April 12, 2011 at 10:21 p.m.: report abuse
As a spectator at the game, I applaud both teams. Berean for playing with dignity and not giving up; Summit for not taking all the opportunities that were handed to them. This was a very difficult game to watch, no matter who you were cheering for. District 12 1A consists of Berean Christian, Community Christian, Morningside Academy, Summit Christian and Wellington Christian...it's all based on the 2008 enrollment. The schools have no say in the class they are in. There will always be powerhouses in each sport no matter what class they happen to fall in. If this was football season, the tables would surely be turned.
WhatDoIKnow commented on April 12, 2011 at 11:02 p.m.: report abuse
Word is that Summit is refunding enrollment checks for next year. Where will Murray Smith go? Word is that all the volleyball players are heading to another school, all the baseball players are going to a school, etc. Summit is being sold. No getting around that fact. IF Summit re opens somewhere else, their enrollment will be down and their facilities wont be as nice. Common sense says you dont just use any building for a school. The next 3 weeks will be interesting............
Oh and Summit student, please learn to spell and put a proper sentence together!
Geterdun commented on April 12, 2011 at 11:20 p.m.: report abuse
To WhatDoIKnow - I'm not really sure what your point is or what it has to do with the topic?
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