High school baseball team disqualified as pitcher goes 1 pitch over limit

Ensworth’s baseball season ended Thursday morning after coach Jason Maxwell notified the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association of a rules violation his program had made a day earlier in a 5-0 win over Father Ryan. The win tied the Division II-AA three-game playoff series at 1-1.

‘Jason called this morning, around 8:30 to let us know,’ said TSSAA assistant director Gene Menees, who oversees baseball for the state’s high school athletic association.

Father Ryan advanced to the next round of the TSSAA DII-AA Middle Region tournament with the forfeited win and plays at Lipscomb Academy on Friday. Brentwood Academy, which upset MBA, plays at CPA.

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 when teams play several consecutive days.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.