The Spirit of Kansas show may have ended late last Friday night, but that didn’t keep some leftover fireworks from going off Tuesday night at Lake Shawnee.
Instead of eliciting oohs and ahhs from the crowd at the Topeka Senators’ game with the Rossville Rattlers, however, this display simply left the patrons dumbfounded.
After one early ejection in the contest, a benches-clearing skirmish forced the umpires to call the game in the top of the seventh inning. Rossville was leading 7-2 when the game was called, but no official outcome had been determined.
“It’s summer ball and we’re out here for these kids to get better and have a chance to play a lot of ball and have a good time,” Senators coach Chris Graves said. “There’s not really a need for something like this. Little stuff will happen here and there and it’s not big deal, but this was a little excessive.”
Rossville was already in command and looking to pad its lead in the seventh when the game quickly spun out of control. With runners on second and third, Rossville’s Andrew Ratterman laced a double down the right-field line.
As Ratterman rounded first, he collided with Senators first baseman Ryan Colombo. The two became entangled with Ratterman riding Colombo nearly to the outfield before crashing to the dirt. Ratterman then began raining down a quick flurry of punches on Colombo before hopping off and skirting away from the mass of players pouring onto the field.
Ratterman was immediately ejected and shortly thereafter the umpires called the contest.
“Things have been escalating between us and them for a little while, but it should never lead to that, ever, ever on the baseball field,” Rossville coach Tobi Cowdin said. “Both teams are playing hard baseball and our guy just lost his temper. It’s a shame that it had to end that way, and hopefully both teams can move on from it and come back tomorrow and play baseball the way it should be played.”
Indeed, things could get interesting Wednesday night at Jerry Robertson Field when the two teams complete their three-game series.
Tuesday’s game had already featured a mild incident when Topeka starter Scott Shinn was ejected in the top of the fourth. One batter after Rossville’s Jeff Crhristen belted a solo homer to stretch the Rattlers’ lead to 5-2, Shinn plunked Rossville’s Tim Schaareman and was thrown out.
The ugly ending marred an otherwise stellar performance by Rossville. The Rattlers struck for three runs in the first inning despite getting only one hit, taking advantage of three walks and a hit batsman by Shinn.
After tacking on solo runs in the third, fourth and sixth, Rossville was threatening to blow the game wide open in the seventh before the melee. Rossville starter Ben Ramberg, meanwhile, had scattered six hits, giving up an RBI double to Topeka’s Chase Ray in a two-run third.
“We finally started to hit the ball a bit and got a good effort from Ben,” Cowdin said. “We’re doing things right and finally winning one and it’s a shame it had to end how it did. I’m embarrassed for us and our organization and I hope we come back and are class acts tomorrow like we’ve been all year.”
Instead of eliciting oohs and ahhs from the crowd at the Topeka Senators’ game with the Rossville Rattlers, however, this display simply left the patrons dumbfounded.
After one early ejection in the contest, a benches-clearing skirmish forced the umpires to call the game in the top of the seventh inning. Rossville was leading 7-2 when the game was called, but no official outcome had been determined.
“It’s summer ball and we’re out here for these kids to get better and have a chance to play a lot of ball and have a good time,” Senators coach Chris Graves said. “There’s not really a need for something like this. Little stuff will happen here and there and it’s not big deal, but this was a little excessive.”
Rossville was already in command and looking to pad its lead in the seventh when the game quickly spun out of control. With runners on second and third, Rossville’s Andrew Ratterman laced a double down the right-field line.
As Ratterman rounded first, he collided with Senators first baseman Ryan Colombo. The two became entangled with Ratterman riding Colombo nearly to the outfield before crashing to the dirt. Ratterman then began raining down a quick flurry of punches on Colombo before hopping off and skirting away from the mass of players pouring onto the field.
Ratterman was immediately ejected and shortly thereafter the umpires called the contest.
“Things have been escalating between us and them for a little while, but it should never lead to that, ever, ever on the baseball field,” Rossville coach Tobi Cowdin said. “Both teams are playing hard baseball and our guy just lost his temper. It’s a shame that it had to end that way, and hopefully both teams can move on from it and come back tomorrow and play baseball the way it should be played.”
Indeed, things could get interesting Wednesday night at Jerry Robertson Field when the two teams complete their three-game series.
Tuesday’s game had already featured a mild incident when Topeka starter Scott Shinn was ejected in the top of the fourth. One batter after Rossville’s Jeff Crhristen belted a solo homer to stretch the Rattlers’ lead to 5-2, Shinn plunked Rossville’s Tim Schaareman and was thrown out.
The ugly ending marred an otherwise stellar performance by Rossville. The Rattlers struck for three runs in the first inning despite getting only one hit, taking advantage of three walks and a hit batsman by Shinn.
After tacking on solo runs in the third, fourth and sixth, Rossville was threatening to blow the game wide open in the seventh before the melee. Rossville starter Ben Ramberg, meanwhile, had scattered six hits, giving up an RBI double to Topeka’s Chase Ray in a two-run third.
“We finally started to hit the ball a bit and got a good effort from Ben,” Cowdin said. “We’re doing things right and finally winning one and it’s a shame it had to end how it did. I’m embarrassed for us and our organization and I hope we come back and are class acts tomorrow like we’ve been all year.”
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