Feather River still alive due to ruling

Due to an unusual set of circumstances, the Feather River Community College baseball team has advanced to the Super Regional.

Feather River, seeded No. 2 in Northern California, will host Sacramento City College, seeded No. 3, in a best two-of-three series to determine who will advance to the State Final Four.

The opener will be played at 3 p.m. Friday and game two will be play at 1 p.m. Saturday. If necessary, game three will be play at noon Saturday.

It appeared that Santa Rosa had advanced to the Super Regional when it swept Feather River, winning the second game 12-4. Feather River had advanced to the regional final by beating Diablo Valley 31-3 and Chabot 6-5.

But with Santa Rosa leading Feather River 4-3 in the final round opener, one of Santa Rosa's players was involved in a verbal altercation with the head umpire. The player was ejected for verbal abuse, but Santa Rosa was able to go on and win the game.

Prior to the start of game two, the umpires met with the on-site administrator regarding the playing status of the ejected player. Santa Rosa decided to play the player despite concerns over his eligibility.

Santa Rosa was originally determined as the tournament winner and the host of the Super Regional against Sacramento.

After much deliberation, the Commission on Athletics decided that in fairness to both teams, Santa Rosa and Feather River would play an additional game, without the player in question, to determined the championship. The COA scheduled the game at a neutral site, American River College in Sacramento, for yesterday.

Feather River accepted the COA's ruling, but Santa Rosa declined to play the additional game. As a result, Feather River advances to the Super Regional.

Among the local players on the Feather River roster are Fernley's Tyler Selden, Galena's Byron Cragg, Carson's Tim Priess and Douglas High's Cal Lewis and Tommy Hoyle. For more information, log onto www.frc.edu or www.coasports.org.