Across the country, most baseball and softball teams are entering the thick of their varsity seasons. At one Southern California school, that season has now officially been cancelled due to a Spring Break tournament trip that was deemed too authentic for high school students.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Burbank (Calif.) Burroughs High cancelled the entire season of its baseball program after 18 players and four coaches were connected with an incident in which a coach bought beer and served it to his players in their hotel rooms.
The illegal distribution of alcohol to underage students occurred during a Spring Break tournament in Arizona, with 11 players admitting to drinking beer provided by coaches and seven others claiming that they were aware of the alcohol but chose not to to partake in it.
The Burbank Leader reported that the coach who served the players beer was an assistant, and that Burroughs head coach J.R. Schwer was unaware of the underage drinking until Friday. Still, those mitigating circumstances still couldn't save his job; Schwer and his three assistant coaches were fired by Burroughs principal Emilio Urioste on Monday.
"I do my best to hire the best coaches that I can, and we do everything to take care of the kids. For a coach to do what he did …" Schwer said, his voice trailing off. "I don't think the kids have to suffer by Burbank having their season taken away from them. ... I just feel terrible for the kids."
All 18 players involved were suspended between two and five days related to the incident, with the entire slate of remaining varsity games officially forfeited due to a universal four-week suspension handed to all 18 of the varsity players involved.
The school's junior varsity program continues to compete against other junior varsity teams, unaffected by the suspensions, with former Burroughs coach Jose Valle stepping in to lead the program, including the junior varsity team.
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