It was an exciting Delta League baseball game Friday afternoon at Wackman Field. Pleasant Grove defeated Elk Grove, 5-4, by scoring four runs with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and then holding on for its second league win of the year.
The question, though, was where was Pleasant Grove head coach Rusty McLain?
He wasn't anywhere in sight. The team was coached by former EG standout and current PG assistant Dan Boyle, who said afterwards he couldn't comment on McLain's status.
"I am the interim head coach," Boyle said.
The storyline for Friday was that this game marked the first time since 1999 that McLain coached a game at Elk Grove, the school where he was the baseball coach for four years following the death of longtime coach Gary Dreher.
McLain was hired last fall by Pleasant Grove to replace Rob Rinaldi. He had not been a head high school baseball coach in the 15 years since leaving EGHS.
McLain wasn't coaching the Eagles' 3-2 win on Wednesday over Jesuit, either. It's likely he won't be in the Eagles' dugout Monday when they host Elk Grove.
That's because sources say school district officials have told PG administrators to keep McLain out of the dugout. The reason for this move is still not clear.
Pleasant Grove A.D. Bruce Belden was out of town this weekend. Phone calls and emails to school district officials had not yet been returned as of Sunday evening.
In the meantime, the baseball game between the Eagles and the Herd is still on for a 4 p.m. first pitch for Monday.
On another note, Franklin High School hired a new football coach earlier this week only to have him turn around and quit later that day. Read about this in Friday's Citizen.
The blog site of John Hull, longtime Elk Grove-area sports writer and columnist.
No comments:
Post a Comment