Road Warriors forced to forfeit; Anonymous report of rules violation leads to end of team’s season

WASILLA — Monday afternoon Wasilla Road Warriors head coach Myrl Thompson watched his squad earn a 2-1 victory over Juneau during an elimination round of the Alaska American Legion State Baseball Championships.

Wasilla was set to move ahead in the tourney with the win. But as it turned out, the Juneau contest was Wasilla’s final game of the 2014 summer season. Monday evening, Thompson received a conference call from three league officials. Thompson said he was told his team’s win over Juneau has become a forfeit, due to Wasilla’s use of an ineligible player. Thompson said league officials received an anonymous tip over the weekend with allegations that a Wasilla player attended a baseball event during a summer trip to the Lower 48. Participation in such an event violates the league’s dual participation rule, Thompson said he was told.

Alaska Legion Baseball issued a press release, reporting the disqualification, Monday evening.

According to the press release, the player in question “violated Alaska’s dual participation rule which precludes players from other baseball activities when it causes a player to miss scheduled American Legion games in the process.”

Thompson said he knew nothing about a potential violation until he received the phone call from league officials Monday evening.

“Not a clue,” said Thompson, who is also the distribution manager of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman in addition to his duties as head coach of the Road Warriors.

Thompson said he knew the player in question had traveled with family to the Lower 48 during the season, but did not know the player attended a baseball event. Prior to the beginning of the regular season, Thompson said, the parents of the player in question told Thompson a family trip had been planned.

“At sign-ups they said we’ve got a family trip planned,” Thompson said. “They said (he) was going to be missing some time.”

The identity of the player was not made public.

Alaska Legion Baseball Department Chair Russ Baker said the allegations surfaced Sunday, with an anonymous report.

“A person came up to me and said somebody asked me to deliver these papers to you,” Baker said.

Baker said the package of papers included screenshots of a player profile from a baseball showcase website. The profile was for a player on the Wasilla Road Warriors.

“It appears that the shot was a profile that the player had made up, along with the organization,” Baker said.

Baker said the paperwork also included a section with a list of events. One event in particular, Baker said, was highlighted in yellow. The paperwork also included the Alaska American Legion schedule with select Road Warriors games highlighted in yellow. There was a note also, Baker said, alleging a conflict and violation of Alaska Legion Baseball’s dual participation rule.

Baker said he took documents, conferred with other members of the state tournament committee, and made the suggestion to contact the organization that hosted the baseball event the Wasilla player allegedly attended.

“Monday morning I called their director. They confirmed for me (the player) was in attendance part of that week,” Baker said. “Basically it substantiated the player had violated the rule. At that point in time it deemed that player ineligible.”

Baker said that conclusion was made as the Road Warriors were playing Juneau in the elimination game. Baker said he looked at the official roster and saw the name of the player in question on the active roster, and in the game. That is when the ultimate decision was made to call the game a Wasilla forfeit, Baker said.

Baker said the Juneau game was actually the only game that will be considered a forfeit on Wasilla’s official 2014 record.

“Basically it was the second loss (of the tournament) for Wasilla. I didn’t feel any need to take any more games,” Baker said.

Baker said the allegations did not lead to a total disqualification from the tournament, but the forfeit loss happened to be Wasilla’s second defeat of the double-elimination tournament.

“If it would have been their first loss, the team would have continued on in the tournament,” Baker said.

Baker said the dual participation rule is longstanding, and predates his eight years in Alaska. Baker said he’s heard of teams violating this rule as far back as 15 years ago. More recently Baker described the infractions as, “relatively rare,” but there was, “a rash of them about four years ago.”

Baker said ALB officials have tried to prevent these instances through education, and there have been past discussion of either changing or doing away with the rule. The rule was established originally to help prevent players from missing portions of the legion season in favor of playing in Outside tournaments or leagues.

Wasilla was one of two teams cited for infractions this week. The Fairbanks 49ers beat Bartlett during the Horizon Lines Invitational at Bartlett High School, but were forced to forfeit the game due to the use of an ineligible player. It was the first loss of the tourney for Fairbanks, and the 49ers were allowed to continue in the tournament. In this case, Baker said, the Fairbanks player was called in ineligible because he was not entered on the team roster before the ALB deadline for adding players to a team.

In the Wasilla case, Baker said he did speak with the father of the Road Warrior in question.

“I had a couple of conversations with the young man’s father. I gave him my position that I’ve worked very hard the last few years to get more men and ladies playing legion baseball in Alaska. The goal is not to go out and see how many teams qualify and render them ineligible,” Baker said. “(The father) just said he was not aware of the rule. I apologized to him on behalf of the American Legion.”

Baker said this was not the type of news he wanted to deliver to Thompson.

“I was physically ill the night before. I did not sleep,” Baker said.

Baker said Thompson and ALB should both take responsibility.

“If the parent truly was not aware (of this rule), the Wasilla post and the American Legion failed that young man,” Baker said.

After receiving the news his team would have to forfeit the Juneau win, a deflated Thompson said it was tough to tell his players their season was over.

“They’re (upset) and hurt,” Thompson said Monday evening.

Thompson called the timing of the allegations, “suspicious,” and questioned the severity of the collective punishment.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.