Ever Umpired a Beat-Down Like This? 45-0!
 

There were: 22 runs, 23 hits, 21 walks and 11 steals in the first inning alone.

Story is at: High school baseball game ends 45-0 - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN

I have not, but...
 

I have several friends that have umpired college games with those kind of scores, it was a highlight of their careers :rolleyes:. At least one crew of guys I know had two games together with those kind of scores, but thank goodness it was not a DH.

Methinks there's a math problem here...23 hits + 21 walks = 44 batters on base. Let's assume the bases were left loaded...44 batters - 3 outs - 3 LOB = 38 runs, not the 22 runs suggested in the article. It doesn't add up...I knew being an engineer would pay off one day!

That said, this is one of those games where after the first inning, you hope a) nobody gets hurt and b) no fights erupt before c) the game mercifully ends. I had one a few years back that was 17-0 at the end of the first, 21-0 at the end of two when the leading coach emptied his bench and told his kids to swing at the first pitch. Still took another 1:15 to finish it out at 26-1, as I recall.

Wait?! You can't trust the newspaper's account of the events? :eek::rolleyes:

-Josh

Buddy, it's from FOX News!

You expect accurate stories of actual occurrences from anything that says FOX?

In an effort to keep this topic on-topic, I'll not start a rebuttal on accuracy in the media, be it Fox, CNN, or anybody else.

Or did I just do that?

Just so you know, the playing field is not even. There are things that don't compare well.

What also doesn't add up is it being a forfeit like the article stated it was. Called, yes. Forfeited, no.

Actually, the OP article is from FoxSports, not Fox News. And, Fox Sports employs McCarver, don't they? So yes, I'd expect them to be inaccurate!

I was curious about this, so I did some reading this morning.

4-2-4 states that state associations can determine how games are to end. In the absence of such procedures, mutual agreement of the coaches and the UIC can be used to shorten games.

There is specific language in the Wisconsin Adaptations to the NFHS rules on how a game is to end. Not much, here it is:

Ten Run Rule: The game shall end when the visiting team is behind 10 or more runs after 4 1/2 innings, or after the fifth inning if either team is 10 runs behind and both teams have had an equal number of times at bat. The ten run provision shall be used in the WIAA tournament series.
If a game is called prior to the completion of any full inning, NFHS Rule 4-2-3 will be applied.

By rule, if the losing team forfeits before it's a regulation game, it goes into the books as a 7-0 forfeit. None of the stats will count, I assume. Not that I care.

Rich, if WIAA specifies that the mercy rule is the ONLY way to end a game in fewer than 7 innings -- that is, if the coaches cannot get together and agree to stop -- then I think you're right: this would be a forfeit.

However, according to 4-5, a forfeit is scored 7-0 only when the forfeiting team is winning. So I think score and all of the stats should remain intact for this one.

Well, Bob Jenkins and I worked a DIII conference doubleheader on Good Friday where the teams split. Visitors won first game 19-13, home team won second game 20-13. Something like 13 home runs were banged out that day, too. 65 runs that day. :eek:

BTW, in game 1, the starting pitcher wasn't removed until the bottom of the 8th, if my memory serves me correctly. He actually pitched relatively well, considering the overall score.

In 1993 is did a DH for a small college in NC (that no longer has a team) They were no hit in the first game 21-0 and no hit in the 2nd 19-0. They only hit one ball out of the infield in both games. Thank God for the mercy rule in that era even in college. It was almost sad, visitors were not even scoring on passed balls and station to station baseball.

The real learning opportunity here is how do deal with it?

Do you expand the strike zone? If so, how much?

Do you initiate a conference with the winning coach and suggest bunting?

Do you stay out of it and just mop up the mess when kids start getting beaned and all hell breaks loose?

Can you invoke the "travesty of the game" clause and end it when everyone has had enough?

There are threads on here already about this.

No.

Yes.

No.

I hope this message was tongue-in-cheek.

Look at 4-4-2:

ART. 2 . . . Score of a forfeited game is 7 to 0 except if the game is forfeited after the number of innings required for a regulation game and the offending team is behind. Then the score remains as recorded. If the offending team is leading, the score shall be 7 to 0.

What if it wasn't?

Fine. I'll bite.

As I mentioned, this has been hashed over several times here in my memory. For the most part, umpires will expand.

You have no authority to suggest anything to a coach, especially something to this regard. How he coaches his team is no business to you.

This is your best option. If hell breaks loose, deal with it.

I'll stick with my original answer: No.

there's nothing that prevents the losing coach from just pulling his team off the field and going home. In some NFHS leagues, a gentlemen's agreement between coaches has a 15 runs after 3 innings mercy rule, which I've had several times happen...when the lead swells to 15 during the bottom of the 3rd, I'd just look at the visiting coach and he'll usually say something: "screw it, we're out of here..." and I call "Ballgame!"...
I wish there was a 25 after 1 rule...

What "travesty of the game" clause?

First of all every game is different. If you go to the game with pre-conceived idea of how it will turn out, you’re screwed from the get-go.

Secondly when officiating, although there is no rule reference for this, COMMON SENSE actually can be applied to many parts of the game.

Last night I showed up for a Varsity HS game got on the field a little early. First thing I noticed was that one team had only 10 players and the talent looked very, very thin. I had seen the home team before and knew their ability. The home team coach tells me that the last district game resulted is a 26-0 score and both teams agreed that 5 innings of play would actually end after 3 innings. My partner asks me how I was going to call the game. I told him, “one pitch at a time.” 1-1/2 hrs latter the game ended 14-0 after 5. The home team also knew that if they were going to stand at the plate and watch close pitches, they would be called strikes. They swung the bat.

Bottom line here, when all else fails use common sense. Don’t suggest anything about when a game should end, deal with it, your not going to turn into a pumpkin if you stand on the field too long. If players get beaned deal with it quickly just like any other game. And for heavens sake don’t make up rules like “travesty of the game “to end it.

Finally, (and don’t take this personnal), if officiating terrible baseball is a problem, then quit now.

I think the real concern here is why do the coaches vote not to use the mercy rule in HS ball? Here in CT, it is voted down year after year and these beat downs just continue.

In Missouri, a special report is to be filed to the state in these situations. I don't know what happens after the report is filed, but, according to my rules interpreter, it's considered pulling your team off of the field.

Exactly.

I have a reputation (good, bad, or indifferent) and I'm not going to risk it by inserting my nose where it doesn't belong. I may call a bit bigger zone, but I'm not going to call runners out when they're obviously safe and/or vice versa. If it takes 5 hours, it takes 5 hours and I'll have a good story afterwards. On the field, I'm going to be as professional as I would in any other game.

Then again, I had a 2-0 game that took 68 minutes yesterday.

This is a brief summary of a DI three game series between Dallas Baptist University and South Dakota State.

Saturday doubleheader, DBU 8-21, SDU 23-5. The three game series featured a total of 78 runs, 99 hits and 22 home runs.

I also found this line score for a softball game in the paper.

Conrad......16 27 3
Lincoln......17 30 7

The line score only showed one extra base hit in the game. Must have been a doozy.

The one some umpires are very quick to pull out to cover a situation that just doesn't seem "right" or "fair" to them. :rolleyes:


And yes everyone, that was sarcasm. ;)

Not a HS game, but....
 

I have no idea what the hits/walks/steals numbers were, but two years ago, I had an NABA game. It was their All-Star weekend; they normally play on Sundays here, but on All-Star weekend, the event is on a Saturday, and then the teams play one 9-inning game instead of the usual two 7s.

At the time, the league had something like 16 teams, and regardless of relative ability, they all managed to play each other during the season, whether it was a good idea or not.

It wasn't.

I lost track of the score, and was just praying for a) death - mine or a player's, it didn't matter; just something that would get a 911 call and the end of the game; b) the 7th inning (where the run rule was extended for a 9-inning game); or c) the 3 1/2 hour time limit (again, extended from the usual). From my recollection, I THINK we hit b).

50-1.

No, that wasn't the odds of survival. That was the final score. F-I-F-T-Y to O-N-E. I only found out that total by checking the league website the following week, specifically from morbid curiosity.

I'm just thankful I was the base guy.

And when I tell this story, I say - and it's not just for humor, but it's really true - "...and it wasn't even THAT close."

You can expand the strike zone, but that's not going to help much. If the game is a real blowout (25-2, 18-0 after 1 inning, etc) the problem usually isn't walks, it's batting practice pitches right over the heart of the plate.

Here in Alabama, the top two teams from each area make the playoffs. One of the state's areas had two teams that did not field a baseball team this season, leaving a winless team as one of the remaining two in the area, and giving them an automatic berth in the playoffs. The were beaten soundly in the first round, by scores of 40-0 and 26-0.
While going winless, this team managed to get no closer to victory than a five-run defeat. Sad.

Fuzzy Math
 

If the team walked 21 times, combined with 23 hits in the first inning, and not to mention the 11 steals, please tell me how they only scored 22 runs in that inning.:confused:

He forgot to mention they also made 35 outs.:D