Sullivan East was reinstated to the TSSAA baseball playoffs after appeals by Elizabethton and Unicoi County were amended Tuesday afternoon.
During a special called meeting of the TSSAA Board of Control, both schools dropped their appeal of restrictive probation, ending each team’s 2023 season. East coach Mike Breuninger said he was told Monday his team would be reinstated to the postseason if Unicoi and Elizabethton’s appeals were not resolved in a way that put those teams back into the playoffs.
Tennessee High athletic director Barry Wade confirmed that East would move into the role as District 1-3A runner-up.
The Cyclones and Blue Devils were involved in a fight during their District 1-3A losers’ bracket final contest Saturday at TVA Credit Union Ballpark. At the time, Elizabethton was leading 11-9, but the Blue Devils had runners on second and third with one out and their cleanup hitter coming to the plate.
Both Unicoi County and Elizabethton were trying to find an avenue to finish their game and play for a district title. Elizabethton submitted an appeal to the TSSAA office on behalf of the players ejected for leaving the dugout, said TSSAA assistant executive director Matthew Gillespie.
“There was not enough evidence to overturn the ejections,” Gillespie said.
Also, Unicoi County Director of Schools John English said he was told the district had recently voted not to play any more tournament games. Therefore, Tennessee High was declared the district champion by the league. And Unicoi County’s hope of finishing the district with underclassmen who weren’t in the dugout at the time and potentially continuing into the region tournament came to an end.
Sullivan East, which was eliminated from the district tournament with losses to Tennessee High and Unicoi County, will play District 2 champion Greeneville in the first round of the region tournament Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Bristol. Tennessee High will play District 2 runner-up Cherokee at 5 p.m.
The Board of Control made a motion to remove Unicoi County’s 2024 probation, pending work with Elizabethton on improving sportsmanship. Another motion was made to reduce Elizabethton’s probation from two years to one. Both motions passed unanimously.
“I feel like it will happen,” English said. “We were already discussing — this was Elizabethton’s idea — getting the two teams together in the next couple of weeks and having a lunch or something. We are going to keep competing against each other in the future, so we want to make sure nothing is carried over and this is an isolated incident.
“And we don’t feel we deserved to be on probation. I appreciated the TSSAA for opening the door for this not to happen to us.”
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