From the Washington Observer-Reporter:

"Chris Sidick, the Wild Things' center fielder, SPENT FOUR YEARS AS A LINEBACKER on the football team at Marietta College."

"However, none of his tackles on opposing running backs for the Pioneers were as game-changing as THE HIT he put on Gateway shortstop Ryan Saltzgaber in the ninth inning Tuesday night."

"Sidick's hard slide into second base broke up a potential double play and allowed Eric Earnhart to alertly race home from second with the game-winning run as Washington defeated Gateway 5-4 in the tension-filled Game 1 of the Frontier League playoffs at GCS Ballpark."

"With the score tied 4-4, Earnhart and Sidick drew consecutive one-out walks off Gateway reliever James Hertel. Eric Ridener, the Grizzlies' closer was then brought in to pitch and got Jarod Rine to hit a bouncer back to the mound."

"Before that pitch, (first-base coach) Grant Dorn told me that I've got to break up the double play and give Eric a chance to score," Sidick said. "The first baseman wasn't holding, so I was able to get a good jump."

Ridener fielded Rine's grounder and fired to Saltzgaber at second base in time to retire Sidick, who made a hard slide AND MOVED UPWARD INTO THE GATEWAY SHORTSTOP.

"I saw Saltzgaber go straight down on his shoulder," Bozzuto (third base coach) said. "It was an opportunity. That's the same aggressive baserunning we've played since the start of the season." (emphasis mine)

This isn't about a slide. This is about a deliberate attempt to injure another player. Go back and reread your own rule book. It's a textbook case. Sidick admits to "intentionally interfering with a fielder attempting to...throw a ball." He not only admits it, he brags about it. He should have been out and ejected. This isn't MLB or college football. Cheap shots are not "aggressive baserunning (sic).

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