Larry Brown Sports

The Texas Longhorns are not the first team to have players who try to pull the old switcheroo when it comes to providing a urine sample, but they have by no means perfected it. Pitcher Corey Knebel reportedly learned the risks involved with such funny business on Friday.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, Knebel was suspended for the team’s weekend series against Kansas State for a violation involving a drug test. A source reportedly told the paper that Knebel was trying to help out a teammate by providing him with a urine sample so he could pass a drug test. The only problem with that is that Knebel takes Adderall to treat his ADHD, which resulted in a failed test.

It is not known which teammate Knebel provided the urine for. Sophomore pitcher Cameron Cox was also suspended indefinitely for what a team spokesman called “a violation of an unspecified team rule,” but it is not clear if Cox’s suspension is directly related to Knebel’s.

Adderall is on the NCAA’s list of banned substances. However, Knebel is permitted to take it because he has a prescription. The teammate who failed the drug test using Knebel’s urine does not have a prescription for Adderall, which eventually forced him to admit that he had taken the urine from Knebel.

This isn’t exactly rocket science. If you’re going to get clean urine from a teammate in an attempt to pass a drug test, make sure it’s clean urine. A prescription doesn’t remove the substance from a person’s urine, it simply allows it to be there.

H/T The Big Lead

We have already shown you a number of tributes professional sports organizations and athletes have put on display to show their support for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and we’re starting to see similar tributes at the lower levels as well. The entire nation has felt the sting of the horrific events that took place on Monday afternoon, and many athletes and teams are trying to do their part to help in any way they can.

As you can see from the photo above that the Louisville baseball team tweeted, the Cardinals will be wearing Patriotic uniforms for their game against Kentucky on Tuesday night.

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Memo to the pitcher in this video: You’re playing baseball, not football.

According to a description on YouTube, this bizarre play occurred during a D-III college baseball game between Hendrix College (Conway, Ark.) and Berry College (Mount Berry, Ga.) on Sunday. The YouTube user who uploaded the video says it was a Berry College pitcher who tackled a Hendrix runner trying to score on a wild pitch.

The YouTube uploader, whose user name is “HendrixBaseballFan,” says the Berry College pitcher threw at batter Matt Simmons, who had called timeout just before the pitch was delivered. The next pitch was in the dirt, and Hendrix’s runner at third tried to score. We say “tried” to score, because nobody could have predicted what happened next.

As junior center fielder Collin Radack was attempting to score, he was leveled by Berry’s pitcher. You can’t even try to argue the contact was accidental, because the video shows the pitcher locating the runner and running straight at him.

Maybe frustration had taken over at the time; Berry had fallen behind 6-2 after Radack’s run. Berry surprisingly rallied to win the game 9-7 despite the dirty tactic. That was easily the dirtiest hit on a college baseball field since this one, which led to a suspension.

The school’s athletic director informs Larry Brown Sports that the player has been suspended for the team’s next conference three-game series.

H/T Deadspin

NC State outfielder Brett Williams led the Wolfpack to a 9-2 victory over New Mexico State on Wednesday with a 2-for-3 showing from the plate. He drove in three of NC State’s nine runs, but it is the play Williams made in center field that you will be seeing on “SportsCenter” for months to come.

There are diving catches, and then there are diving catches that involve a somersault mid-air. As you can see, Williams pulled off the latter to rob extra bases.

According to the NC State athletics website, Williams is only six games into his return from ACL surgery and is batting .458 with three homers. I think it’s safe to say his recovery is going well. The catch Williams made is right up there with this catch as one of the greatest we’ve ever seen.

H/T Big League Stew

UC Riverside and Sacramento State began their four-game series Friday night with a bang. The teams got into a bench-clearing brawl during the top of the third inning which led to suspensions for three players.

According to NBC Los Angeles, UCR shortstop Eddie Young was caught in a rundown after trying to advance from second to third on a laser to the Sacramento State shortstop. Young was tagged out by Sac State second baseman Andrew Ayers, the reigning WAC player of the year, who appeared to push him after applying the tag. The two exchanged words, and Young retaliated by slapping Ayers in the face. After Young missed on a second punch, he was wrestled to the ground by Sac State third baseman Will Soto Jr. The benches then cleared.

The Sacramento Bee says Ayers, Young, and UCR catcher Drake Zarate will all be suspended four games. NCAA rules state that players ejected for fighting get suspended four games.

UCR won the game 2-1 and is now 2-3 on the season. Sac State is now 1-3.

H/T Kyle Gunther

Massachusetts Institute of Technology baseball player Sean Karson recently revealed that he is gay, and he says he has received a positive reaction from his teammates.

Karson is a junior third baseman who batted .350 for the team last season. A co-captain and two-year starter, Karson asked his coach if he could address his teammates during a recent indoor practice, the Boston Herald reports. That’s when he revealed to his teammates in a tearful speech that he is gay. He told the newspaper that the reaction was positive.

“They came up and gave me high fives and said they’d have my back and everything,” he told the Herald. “It was so supportive, it was ridiculous.”

Karson says he didn’t get a warm reaction from all his teammates at first, but the ones who didn’t immediately approach him later sent him emails to say how much they respected him.

Karson, who is a chemical engineering major and founder of a technology startup called Sponge Systems, told the Herald that coming out has been an emotionally freeing experience.

“I have never been myself up until very recently,” he told the Herald. “Everything’s been just sort of cold and calculated. I’ve been in this fortress, I guess, and haven’t let my emotions out at all.

“I worried that I had no emotions, that I didn’t feel much about anything. It was really weird.”

Karson was inspired to come out by former University of Southern Maine baseball player James Nutter, who recently came out. Outsports.com says Karson spent Super Bowl weekend at the Facebook headquarters in California as part of a conference for LGBT tech students, which may have played a role in his decision to come out. Karson also believes that a professional athlete is going to come out in the near future; he said that it would happen in the next month. He thinks things are changing in the sports world.

“But sports are never going to be a scary place for LGBT people again,” he told the Herald. “The locker room is going to be a safe space everywhere.”

Though Karson has had a positive experience so far, he only needs to refer back to the comments of San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver to know that some athletes will have a problem with gay teammates. Regardless, Karson’s announcement is a positive step in athletics.

Photo via MIT athletics

A woman ran onto the field during Game 2 of the College World Series between Arizona and South Carolina on Monday and, boy, was she a handful.

The unidentified woman made a dash during the 7th inning and patted the butts of two Arizona outfielders, including center fielder Joey Rickard (seen above).

We don’t encourage fan disturbance, but if you’re a woman who’s planning to run onto a field mid-game, this is how to make the most of your big moment. Of course, if she were a man, she’d be booked for sexual assault in addition to some sort of trespassing charge.

Forearm bash to Kevin Kaduk
Photo Credit: AP/Eric Francis