Sally League Brawl Leads to 12 Ejections

by Rob Mueller
June 9, 2003

Cheap beer in the stands and bad blood on the field were the precursors to a wild night at McCormick Field in Asheville last week, and what did or didn't happen was proving as hard to sort out as all the people on the field had been.

A melee in a South Atlantic League game between the Augusta GreenJackets and Asheville Tourists last Thursday has been described by witnesses and participants as one of the ugliest brawls they've ever seen.

Twelve players were ejected and three, including Jackets shortstop Hanley Ramirez, were taken to a local hospital emergency room for minor injuries.

"It was an unfortunate incident," Red Sox farm director Ben Cherington said. "But it was also avoidable."

With tensions high from previous beanings when the Tourists and Jackets met in Augusta one week earlier, things got hairier after four Augusta batters were hit by pitches in the early innings. In the seventh, Augusta reliever Carlos Morla appeared to hit Asheville's Oscar Materano in the head with a pitch. Home-plate umpire John Bennett ruled it a foul ball and warned both sides that the next brushback pitch would result in an ejection for the pitcher and his manager.

In the eighth, Asheville's Rikki Johnston threw a pitch over the head of Augusta's Addison Bowman. Jackets manager Russ Morman complained to no avail when Johnston was not ejected.

On the next pitch, Johnston drilled Bowman in the ribs. Bowman charged the mound and both benches and bullpens emptied, starting more than a half-dozen separate skirmishes.

Cherington said the Red Sox do not condone fighting but said Bowman had no choice after he turned the other cheek after Johnston's first pitch.

"If a team feels the umpiring crew is not in a position to protect them, then they're going to protect themselves," Cherington said.

Cherington also disputed an initial account of the incident on BaseballAmerica.com and said the Augusta club was unfairly portrayed in several published reports.

For example, he said, while Jackets outfielder Michael Goss and Ramirez did have bats in their hands during the fracas, they did not try to go into the stands. Cherington said they were trying to stop fans from harassing Augusta's Aneudis Mateo, Ramirez' best friend on the team, who was in the stands charting pitches during the game.

"The whole thing reported about Hanley and Goss having bats is unfair," Cherington said. "It was dollar beer night, and hundreds of people were drinking and throwing beer on our players. We had two players in the stands charting pitches, and the fans were taunting them. Hanley and Goss went up to the netting to try and yell at the fans to get off their buddy. They never waived or wielded a bat at anyone."

Asheville police restored order after several minutes.

Morman was punched in the forehead and sustained a large welt. Augusta catcher Kenton Myers broke his hand, and second baseman Eric West had already broken his hand when he was hit by a pitch. West and Myers were scheduled to have surgery this week in Boston and are out indefinitely.

Baseball America also incorrectly reported that Ramirez separated his shoulder in the incident. He returned to action against Savannah on Saturday.

"Hanley's fine," Cherington said. "He came down on it and wrenched it a little bit."

Bowman, Morla, Goss and outfielder Jose Soto were ejected and will serve automatic three-day suspensions and pay $150 fines under SAL rules. Ejected from Asheville were manager Joe Mikulik, Materano, Johnston, catcher Gary Gentry, outfielder Bernie Gonzalez, first baseman Nick Gretz, catcher Alvin Colina and pitcher Rich Cartier.

League president John Moss is expected to announce a ruling on additional fines and suspensions this week. Moss did not immediately return phone calls.

Mueller covers the GreenJackets for The Augusta Chronicle