Baseball: Top-seeded Ridge disqualified from state tournament because of pitch-count rule
The Ridge baseball team’s season came to a sudden end Saturday when the NJSIAA disqualified the Red Devils from the state tournament because of a pitch-count violation in its quarterfinal win Thursday.
Ridge, the top-seed in North 2 Group 4, has to forfeit its 8-1 win over eighth-seeded Westfield in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Westfield will play at fifth-seeded Bayonne in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Connor Byrne threw 151 pitches in a five-day calendar period that surpassed the NJSIAA rule. Its guidelines state, “A pitcher cannot exceed 150 pitches in a five-day calendar period.”
He threw 69 pitches in Ridge’s 10-1 win over Piscataway on Monday. He then threw 82 pitches against Westfield on Thursday.
The news was first reported by NJ Advance Media. Ridge athletic director Rich Shello confirmed the information to MyCentralJersey.
Shello said it was “an honest mistake” and there was no intent to cheat from Ridge.
“We’re all sick over this,” Shello said. “We’re sick for the kids. They’ve done nothing wrong. They’re being disqualified from the tournament and I just think that that rule needs to be looked at. Punish the adults, don’t punish the kids.”
Byrne got the Westfield batter out on his 82nd pitch and was taken out of the game with one out in the sixth. Shello said “it wasn’t realized that that was not permissible.”
The NJSIAA rules state that “if a pitcher reaches a pitch limit while facing a batter, the pitcher may continue to pitch until” the batter reaches base, is retired or the third out is recorded in that half inning.
However, the NJSIAA rules continue, “Once the 150-pitch limit in five calendar days is reached, the pitcher may not continue with the current batter.”
“We found out that the rule was not adhered to exactly the way it’s been written,” Shello said, “but it’s an awfully tough pill to swallow for one pitch in an 8-1 game. The bottom line is I know we were not trying to get an advantage of any kind. We had (Brendan) Callanan ready to go as the next pitcher. It’s very, very unfortunate.”
Shello said the NJSIAA said there was no flexibility once it was confirmed the rule was violated and that Ridge had to be disqualified.
Shello said there was some discrepancy on the exact number of pitches that Byrne threw, but the NJSIAA determined it was 82 pitches based on the information they collected. Shello said Ridge’s video of the game had a glitch in one inning “so we weren’t sure what was there.”
“I’m still not sure it was 82,” Shello said. “It might have been 81.”
Ridge is ranked No. 1 in the MyCentralJersey area Skyland and Union Top 10 ranking and was two wins away from tying the program record for 28 wins in a season set by the 2002 state championship team.
"I think it’s an honest mistake and it’s very unfortunate that the kids have to pay for it," Shello said. “I feel awful for these kids.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Baseball: Top-seeded Ridge disqualified from state tournament
