SWAC reverses decision on rain-shortened game
BY DAN CABRERA
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Scenic West Athletic Conference ruled on Tuesday to reverse the decision an umpiring crew made at the end of the final game of a four-game series last Saturday between the College of Southern Nevada and the College of Eastern Utah in Price, Utah.
The original decision by the umpires had declared CSN the winner over CEU in a game that ended early due to rain. The Coyotes led 17-0 after three innings of play when the umpiring crew instituted a rain delay that lasted approximately 10 minutes following the end of the third inning.
Following the rain delay, the umpires called over CSN coach Tim Chambers and CEU coach Scott Madsen and the coaches and Athletic Directors agreed to call the game official as-is. But the SWAC found out about the on-field decision, and they summoned all Athletic Directors to a conference call on Tuesday morning. After a majority vote, the decision was made to throw out the final game.
"It's probably not going to affect anything but the stats for the kids, which is a big deal for me," Chambers said. "It affects some batting averages and some home runs.
"It is what it is, and we'll move forward and take it with a grain of salt. We'll use it as motivation."
The decision to disallow the final game means that CSN is now 2½ games back of first-place Western Nevada College in the current league standings. The Wildcats can now clinch the conference title with just two wins at Colorado Northwestern this weekend. The conference champion earns the right to host the Region 18 Tournament, which is slated for May 6-9.
"Not getting a win (due to the decision) doesn't matter to me," Chambers said. "It's all about what happens in the regional tournament."
The SWAC's decision also means that all of the athletes' statistics from that game will be thrown out and will not count in the season stats. This means that the first home runs of the season by Remington Wilson and Trevor Kirk – along with Lane Kirby's first-ever at-bat in school history and Chasen Shreve's one-hitter with six strikeouts – will not count for anything more than bragging rights.
Kirk (3-for-4, 3 RBI), Justin Mishalow and Marvin Campbell (2-for-2) are all in contention to claim the conference batting title, and with only four games remaining in the regular season, this decision may hurt their chances at claiming this honor.
