Queen Creek forfeits 6A baseball playoff win over Hamilton due to ineligible pitcher

A day after celebrating a 2-1 6A baseball playoff win over Chandler Hamilton, Queen Creek players felt the dejection of being told their season is over.

The Arizona Interscholastic Association ruled Wednesday that Sebastian Tomerlin had exceeded 60 pitches in Saturday's two-inning stint against Chaparral and needed more than two day's rest before pitching again.

Tomerlin came on to pitch in the seventh inning Tuesday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium and got the final three outs, leaving Hamilton with runners on second and third.

Hamilton gets a second life on Friday when it plays Chaparral at 4 p.m. at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa in a semifinal.

There was discrepancy over how many pitches Tomerlin threw on Saturday. Chaparral uses GameChanger and had him for 64 pitches. A pitcher can't exceed 60 pitches to be able to come back on two days rest.

Queen Creek listed him for 55 pitches, which would have allowed him to come back Tuesday to pitch.

But the AIA couldn't verify that pitch count accuracy, because Queen Creek didn't use GameChanger or the AIA pitch-count document, according to AIA Assistant Executive Director Joe Paddock.

That made Tomerlin ineligible to pitch Tuesday.

"The rules indicate that you can use GameChanger or the AIA document," Paddock said. "Because of that, we need to defer to Chaparral. They used the proper mechanism. They used GameChanger. Their pitch count had 64, so he was not ineligible to pitch until (Wednesday).

"He was considered an ineligible pitcher. Queen Creek will forfeit the game. Hamilton will move forward."

The AIA Legislative Council adopted a pitch-count rule in 2016, following USA Baseball guidelines, to protect arms with the spike of Tommy John surgeries in high school baseball.

Hamilton coach Mike Woods said he started being alerted by the Saturday pitch count of Tomerlin's in text messages late Tuesday night.

AIA officials were already getting wind of it.

Hamilton Athletic Director Brett Palmer said that it was reported to the AIA that a possible ineligible pitcher was used during the game. He said Hamilton cooperated with the AIA.

"It's a shame it came to this," Woods said. "We didn't do anything wrong. We played a hard game. Unfortunately, they seemed to make the mistake, and we're the beneficiary of that mistake.

"We're glad and we're happy for it. But that's all I have to say. It's not the way we like to move forward. But rules are rules, I guess. It's an unfortunate situation for Queen Creek and those boys. We have those rules for a purpose and you have to be transparent."

Queen Creek coach Mikel Moreno said he puts it on himself but still believes his team earned that win over Hamilton, which would have eliminated the nationally ranked Huskies from the 16-team, double-elimination tournament with their second loss.

"It hasn't been taken away because Hamilton knows, my boys know, anybody who was in attendance knows my boys kicked their ass," Moreno said. "That's indisputable. If Hamilton wants to win on technicality, they got us on a technicality. Good luck to them. The kind of integrity they're instilling in their kids over there, it's not going to get them very far in life. In this instance, it is, so good for them."

Moreno said he has a kid tallying the pitches on a sheet of paper.

"You have to enter it on the AIA web site," Moreno said. "Paddock said that the official pitch-count sheet chart -- our boy tallies them up and does the best he can -- because we didn't submit that, that's why we have to forfeit.

"I never heard that. I'm sure there's fine print. I have to be better at finding the fine print. I take full responsibility. This is completely 100% on me."

This is the second year in a row that a high school baseball team had to forfeit a game late in the playoffs due to using an ineligible pitcher over the AIA's pitch-count rule. Last year, Miami had to forfeit their 2A semifinal win over Benson. Benson went on to beat Scottsdale Christian for the state championship.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Queen Creek forfeits 6A playoff win over Hamilton