A California high school baseball team is livid after losing a regional final on a very controversial balk call.
Bakersfield Christian High School lost Saturday’s Division III regional championship on a balk called against pitcher Cale Nielson. St. John Bosco had rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game, and the balk allowed the winning run to score for a 5-4 walkoff win.
Darren Carr, a member of the Bakersfield Christian High School coaching staff, shared video of the controversial balk on his X account.
Our Baseball team just lost their State Regional Finals game vs St. John Bosco on a walk-off balk… here’s the “balk……” @CIFState @CifCentral @CIFSS @umpjob pic.twitter.com/WsPlKFrfYP
— Darren Carr (@DCarr75) June 2, 2024
The closest thing to a balk in the video is a slight flutter of the right elbow as the pitcher is coming into the set position. It certainly looks like a very harsh call to make in such a situation, but the balk rule is notoriously controversial at all levels of baseball.
The win gave St. John Bosco its first CIF regional title in school history. The way they won might be controversial, but they can rightly point out that they staged quite the rally to even get into that position.
