By Robert Roselle and Erene Abdelmeseeh
By Robert Roselle and Erene Abdelmeseeh
In 2007, the Tigers won the State Championship. In 2008, they went back to the championship series falling just short of victory. Now, in 2009, they won’t even have a chance to get into the playoffs.
The Riverside City College baseball team has been disqualified from the 2009 playoffs. Coach Dennis Rogers said the suspension comes after a player misrepresented information.
Rogers said he did not want to disclose the information pertaining to the misappropriation.
Most of the players have said that coach Rogers has definitely been able to get his players to move past this situation and focus on the season.
Rogers said, “We took our penalty and tried to make a better situation.”
And that’s what the Tigers seem to be doing. Although they will not be able to attend this year’s playoffs due to the infraction, they most likely wouldn’t have attended due to their sixth place rank in the conference.
Rogers said, “You need to be invited to the playoffs. The first, second, and third places teams are the ones who play.”
The team that wins first place in the conference is automatically invited, and the second and third place teams overall come next.
Rogers said that their team of mostly new players tried their hardest, but they were unable to keep up with the baseball veterans of their rivaling teams.
“We’re just going out and trying to win every game,” said Brett Hambright. “We’re trying to be the best in our conference.”
Despite the hardships, the Tigers continue to go out and play the game they love while they grow as a team.
“Mistakes do happen,” Hambright said, “but at some point you have to know the guidelines.”
With a tough schedule coming up, and already down two losses in conference play, it looks to be a trying season for the Tigers.
Their latest setback was a heartbreaker, as they fell to Orange Coast College 4-3. This loss dropped them to 1-2 in conference play.
The Tigers were up 3-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth when reliever Kyle Morgan was touched up for three runs on five hits. The Tigers were unable to recover in the ninth inning as OCC shut them down.