Following up on the previous article, here are the results.
Palm Beach Post's story for Wednesday's edition:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/s...s/epaper/2009/05/19/
a1a_trinity_0520.html
Brawl results in 16 suspensions as Trinity enters state tournament
By JASON LIESER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
FORT PIERCE — As rain poured outside the Fort Pierce Fairfield Inn, Trinity Christian baseball players turned the hotel lobby into a blissful, naïve haven.
At one table, four played dominoes while taking turns providing the commentary. A few feet from that group, three players hovered around a cellphone, pointing and playfully jabbing each other. The rest were playing hand-held video games or laughing at videos on YouTube.
"They don't know," said a school chaperone, shaking his head.
Trinity Christian's baseball team had yet to hear the bad news Athletic Director Fred Erdman was about to deliver. Coach Miguel Cuello walked into the lobby with a grim look on his face and said simply: "Guys, conference room."
What the players heard in that closed-door meeting knocked them speechless. Erdman said the Florida High School Athletic Association had suspended 16 of the 17 players on Trinity Christian's varsity roster, ruling them ineligible for today's Class 1A state semifinal game against Tampa-Cambridge at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie.
The players said nothing as they filed out of the conference room and back into the lobby. The dominoes game resumed, but it was distinctly quieter.
"It's a very somber mood," said Erdman, who instructed the players not to comment publicly. "They don't understand. The questions are, 'What did I do?' and 'Why can't I play?' "
To reach this round of the state playoffs, the Warriors beat Brito Miami Private in a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday. In the third inning of Friday's game, Brito's Daniel Bolanos delivered a hard blow with his body - and especially his elbow - to Trinity Christian catcher Phildrick Llewellyn on a play at the plate.
That collision sparked a fight that drew almost every player to the infield and delayed the game for 29 minutes while umpires sorted out ejections. Five players from each side were expelled.
The FHSAA has a standard two-game suspension for ejections, but can shorten or lengthen the penalty after review.
As the team practiced Tuesday, Erdman and Cuello hoped that at least three of the five players would be reinstated for today's game. At worst, they figured, all five would be forced to sit out the semifinal and then would be allowed to return for Thursday's state championship game if Trinity Christian won.
Denarvise Thornton, FHSAA associate executive director, sent Erdman a letter Monday stating that the entire team was "suspended indefinitely." But based on their conversations, Erdman did not expect that to become reality.
"I can accept a five-player suspension, but then under further review you decide to get everybody else?" Erdman said.
The review was based on the umpires' report and versions of the situation provided by Trinity Christian and Brito.
The team boarded a bus Tuesday morning and headed north from its Lake Worth campus, which serves pre-school through 12th grade. The players had a quick practice ruined by rain at Port St. Lucie High before returning to the Fairfield Inn.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Thornton informed Erdman that every player on the roster during the confrontation, except Llewellyn, was suspended at least two games for leaving their position in the field or dugout. The five ejected players - Jacob Johnson, Jonathan Groezinger, Adaric Kelly, Brandon Murray and Richard Bain - received four-game bans, of which one game was served Saturday against Brito.
Llewellyn was spared because the incident took place near his position and he spent most of the altercation on the ground, waiting for his head to stop spinning.
"It's brutal," Cuello said. "I was waiting to hear about five guys possibly. To me the whole thing makes no sense."
Thornton, through an FHSAA spokesperson, declined comment.
Technically, Trinity Christian is not disqualified from the state tournament. The Warriors have the option of lining up Llewellyn and 10 junior varsity players for today's game. The school would be required to pay the FHSAA $50 for each player it adds to the roster.
Erdman said Trinity Christian will show up at Tradition Field for its 5 p.m. game as scheduled, though he did not elaborate. Principal Cindy Ansell is declining comment, he said.
The next step could be in court, though no one associated with Trinity has said that is an option.