UPDATE #1 at 3AM Eastern on March 15th.
According to The Star, The Newspaper of Cleveland County, a parent from Gardner-Webb and St. John’s got into an argument which forced a police officer to respond to the scene. When he arrived, both parents had left the area and could not be found. You can check out the full article by clicking here.
A poster on the Rivals.com message board named CoHaze posted the following about the situation. I have been able to confirm with multiple sources that this was a good representation of what went down.
I was not there, but according to someone who was, it was ugly. I think things started to a little chippy at the end of the Friday night game which ended on a line drive double play. SJ Kid who got doubled up off first base apparently took offense when the GW players ran to the mound after the final out. He apparently felt disrespected and charged towards the mound and started mouthing off. Some posturing ensued but everybody eventually went back to their dugouts and went home.
Things got uglier Saturday. GW in the process of whipping St Johns. SJ pitcher throws a ball very close to the head of GW batter who already has several big hits on the weeked. Next pitch goes 3 feet behind him. Ump does nothing. Batter asks ump if he is going to do anything about it. Ump declines. Batter digs in and singles.
At some point in game SJ pitcher throws several wild pitches and starts screaming at ump about something. Can’t remember what. Ump does nothing. Coaches do nothing. Apparently there was some jawing going on in the stands between some of the fans. After game ends approximately 5 St. Johns players go into the stands. I am not sure if there was already some ruckus going on or what. A couple of GW players also went into the stands.
The behavior of the players of going into the stands, for any reason, is absurd. But it sure sounds like the umpires and the coaches did a lousy job of controlling the situation. Players will undoubtedly be disciplined, but I’m not sure they should be the only ones.
The final game of a three game set between St. John’s and Gardner Webb has been canceled after a brawl took place in the stands after Saturday’s game. Gardner-Webb had won the first two games of the series 3-2 and 18-11. We will have more on this in the coming hours/days as more details come out.
9 comments
How did a fight in stands Saturday cancel the game for Sunday?
According to a friend that was present, there were at least 5 St. Johns players and a couple of Gardner Webb players up in the stands in after the game. LOTS of other stuff that went on as well. Suspect there will be multiple suspensions for St. Johns and possibly Garner-Webb as well.
Id like to know what all happened. Sounds like interesting story
We were in attendance when Dayton played at Gardner-Webb February 26th. About the 5th inning, some students came to the game and sat in the stands. They began verbally abusing the Dayton players, unfortunately, but similar to a few other schools we’ve visited. The only apparent difference was these students appeared intoxicated, and it was apparently the Gardner-Webb men’s soccer team. There’s really no place for that kind of activity in America’s game, in my opinion.
I mean no offense, but if you thought that was bad you haven’t been to certain schools. I can not say for sure if the fans were intoxicated or not, but I can tell you GWU is a christian school in a town that does not even sell alcohol and if they were intoxicated they were taking a major risk being at a school sporting event like that, because the alcohol policy is very strict.
There was a lot of talk back and forth between both teams in Friday’s game it was a tight game with a lot of emotions on both sides, however after both coaches talked to players before Saturday’s game the actual field play was fairly civil still a heated game, but little jawing back and forth. The incident started in the stands involving parents from both teams and some players went into the stands in an effort to protect their family. The situation could’ve been much worse with both teams crowded together, but for the most part the players kept their cool.
As to the question asking why the game was cancelled, it just was probably for the best if you would’ve been there you would understand.
Not saying it shouldn’t have been cancelled but still is a story! rnSent on the Sprintu00ae Now Network from my BlackBerryu00ae
The incident started as the game ended and heckling and the use of offensive language by GW fans/parents continued. A St John’s parent stood up and looked in the direction of the slurs. As the crowd started to move towards the exits, a GW parent shoved the St John’s parent, causing him to fall over a row of seats. The St Johns parent was then physically attacked by several GW fans. Fans from both sides became involved in an attempt to break up the fight. Any players who entered the stands did so in order to ensure their family members were safe. The players were not physically involved in the incident. One GW player was seen yelling at his father to stop and get out of the stadium.There was no security at the game. There apparently are no police officers in the town. 2 campus security officers showed up eventually. They were unable to control one very aggitated and aggressive GW parent. Although it did not appear that alcohol was involved on Saturday, there were several intoxicated adult fans at Friday nights game. A disturbing incident for a christian college in a dry town.
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