The Ensworth School saw its baseball season end in a bizarre way on Wednesday. The high school squad won a playoff game thanks to a dazzling no-hit effort from their star pitcher -- but it was all wiped out due to a Tennessee state rule.
The school's head coach, Jason Maxwell, had no choice but to report a rules violation -- related to a pitch count -- that his team made to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association when Ensworth defeated Father Ryan, 5-0, in the second game of a best-of-three Division II-AA playoff series. The victory was supposed to tie the series up at 1-1, according to The Tennessean.
But The Ensworth School's starting pitcher Connor Cobb -- a Vanderbilt commit -- threw 121 pitches in the game, which is one pitch over the 120-pitch count rule that the TSSAA has in place. Cobb registered 16 strikeouts in a did not allow a single hit against Father Ryan.
As a result of the pitch count violation, Father Ryan was given the win and automatically advanced to the next round in the TSSAA Division II-AA Middle Region tournament, via forfeit.
According to The Tennessean, the TSSAA's 120-pitch limit is a rule that has been in place since 2017. During the first year of the new rule, pitchers were allowed to finish throwing to the batter who was currently at the plate when they hit the 120 mark. However, that was changed following the 2017 season.
The Tennessean noted that pitch count violations are reported to the TSSAA during the regular season but are more frequent come the postseason, "when teams play several consecutive days."
