College baseball team forfeits game after pitcher throws 1 pitch

A college baseball team was forced to forfeit one of its games on Saturday after making a big mistake.

Liberty University and Jacksonville State played a three-game series over the weekend. Liberty won Friday’s opener 9-8. Then on Saturday, the teams played a doubleheader with Jacksonville State winning the first game 9-0 via forfeit and the second game 6-1.

Prior to the start of the series, the teams had to submit their 27-player roster which would feature players who were eligible to participate in the series. Liberty’s 27-player roster omitted Ben Blair despite him being scheduled to start at pitcher in Game 2 of the series on Saturday.

Jacksonville State’s manager took note of that situation and waited for Blair to throw one pitch in the game before alerting the umpiring crew. The Jacksonville State coach didn’t know what would transpire from there. He figured Blair would either be removed from the game or there would be a forfeit. Conference USA has a rule stating that a team has to forfeit if it uses an ineligible player in a game, which is what Liberty had done.

The Flames had to forfeit as a result and lost 9-0.

The teams played later in the day for the finale, and Jacksonville State was able to use both its scheduled Game 2 and Game 3 starters to pitch. They combined on a two-hitter.

Jacksonville State’s X account boasted about the Game 2 win and caught some flak in the replies.