Lawmakers demand NCAA apologize for removing NC State baseball from CWS
North Carolina Republican state lawmakers are demanding NCAA officials answer questions about why the organization disqualified NC State’s baseball team from the College World Series after eight players tested positive for coronavirus.
Legislators’ largely symbolic decision to weigh in on the issue comes after days of outrage from Wolfpack supporters, who have criticized the NCAA’s decision to disallow NC State from continuing to compete in the College World Series. The Wolfpack was one victory away from advancing to the best-of-three championship series in Omaha, Nebraska, when the positive COVID-19 tests left its season in turmoil.
Those players had the Delta variant of COVID-19 — a new and highly contagious strain of the virus — Chancellor Randy Woodson said Monday.
Also on Monday, NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan told The News & Observer COVID protocols were followed with the school’s baseball team.
“We decided in September that the medical experts were going to be the ones that drove these decisions,” Corrigan told the N&O. “It’s something we’ve been living with this entire pandemic. We had eight positive student-athletes. Per the regulations that were laid out, that made this a no contest. It wasn’t something that was outside the rules.”
In a letter addressed to NCAA President Mark Emmert and others in leadership, lawmakers questioned whether the organization really did follow coronavirus protocols. They also expressed concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the organization’s decision to test vaccinated players, rather than testing only unvaccinated players.
Led by Rep. Jeff McNeely, a Republican from Stony Point, lawmakers are also calling for the NCAA to formally apologize to the team for “callously denying them their well-deserved position in the College World Series.”
More than 60 Republican lawmakers signed onto the letter, along with three House Democrats — Rep. Howard Hunter, of Ahoskie, Rep. Amber Baker, of Winston-Salem, and Rep. Michael Wray, of Gaston. Even Senate leader Phil Berger, one of the most powerful Republican lawmakers in the state, signed the demand letter.
“Anything that affects the citizens of North Carolina and the state of North Carolina in an adverse way, we are watchdogs to protect them so that they receive justice and fairness in any situation,” McNeely said. “I truly believe they (NCAA) do owe NC State an apology for making a rash decision at 2 a.m.”
The positive COVID-19 tests first left the Wolfpack depleted in a 3-1 defeat against Vanderbilt last Friday. Then, hours after that loss, additional positive tests left NC State’s season further in doubt. The Wolfpack was set to play Vanderbilt for the third time in the College World Series on Saturday, but early that morning the NCAA declared the game a “no contest,” citing “COVID-19 protocols.”
The decision ended NC State’s most promising run in any NCAA postseason event since its men’s basketball team won the national championship in 1983. That the Wolfpack’s season ended not on the field but off of it, because of a controversial decision that the NCAA hasn’t fully explained, has been especially painful to long-suffering Wolfpack supporters. For nearly 40 years they’ve been waiting for another national championship moment.
After a 1-0 defeat against Duke in the ACC tournament championship game, the Wolfpack advanced through an NCAA regional in Ruston, Louisiana, with two victories there against Louisiana Tech, the regional host. In its next game, the Wolfpack suffered a 21-2 defeat against Arkansas, the No. 1 national seed, but from there NC State improbably defeated the Razorbacks in consecutive games to advance to Omaha for the third time in school history.
The Wolfpack won its first two games in the College World Series, using strong pitching performances in victories against Stanford and Vanderbilt. Yet when NC State coach Elliott Avent referenced that some of his players were fighting “a bug” early last week, it foreshadowed the trouble to come. By Friday morning, before its second game against Vanderbilt, positive COVID-19 tests had already left NC State short-handed.
Later that night, in the early-morning hours of Saturday, the virus had ended the Wolfpack’s season.
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This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Lawmakers demand NCAA apologize for removing NC State baseball from CWS."
