Penalty Was Tough, but Avoidable

The way Pierre Rodnunsky tells it, it was just no big deal.

He and Tom Brandt, another reserve infielder for the Cal State Northridge baseball team, saw a newspaper story about an alumni game being held at Pierce College in conjunction with the renaming of the baseball field. It is now Joe Kelly Field, in memory of the man who coached Pierce for 16 years until cancer claimed him in 1982.

It seemed like a good cause, a good time. So Rodnunsky and Brandt returned to their alma mater and played two innings in the game.

It turns out, however, it was a big deal. A very big deal. The NCAA specifically forbids its players from participating in any outside games during the collegiate season with two exceptions: the player’s high school alumni game and the Olympic Games or Olympic tryouts.

Once it was discovered that Rodnunsky and Brandt, both juniors, had violated that rule, they were declared ineligible for the rest of the season. Rodnunsky had appeared in five games and was hitting .545. Brandt had a .429 average in four games.

At first glance, the punishment seems like classic overkill, tantamount to the death penalty for a parking violation, like shooting rabbits with a cannon.

“A rule is a rule, but I think the punishment should fit the crime,” says Albert Rodnunsky, Pierre’s father. “Maybe they should not play a certain number of games. Sometimes people break the rules when they do not know what they are. If you drive 45 m.p.h. in a 35-mile zone, there should be some punishment. But you don’t throw away the keys to the car. My son is crushed by this.”

The elder Rodnunsky wants to appeal the decision, but he cannot go to the NCAA directly. Only CSUN officials can do that. After reviewing his request for further action, they have decided against it.

According to Athletic Director Bob Hiegert the rule was clearly communicated by baseball Coach Terry Craven on at least three occasions since the team came together in the fall. Don’t play in any other games anywhere. Period.

Brandt admits he knew what he was doing wasn’t entirely kosher.

“I knew someone had said not to play in the game,” Brandt says, “but I didn’t know the actual outcome would make me ineligible for the season. I thought it might have been a coach’s rule and I’d be suspended for a game or something.”

Brandt says if he and Rodnunsky had known what awaited them when they returned to the Matadors, “We wouldn’t have played in the game. We wouldn’t even have gone.”

But they did. And from CSUN’s point of view, they’ve taken a called third strike.

“They are dead in the water,” Hiegert says. “There are no grounds to protest. There was no misunderstanding on the rule. If the kids had reported late and had not heard the warnings, maybe that would be another matter. There would have to be some extenuating circumstances. In Brandt’s case, he was injured and not even practicing with our team, and here he was playing in another game. It’s open and shut as far as we are concerned.

“The rule is there to limit any outside games above the high school level. Let’s say you lived in Orange County. You might play in an Orange County all-star game, an all-star game for the city of Orange, a junior college benefit, a professional charity game and so on. You could get in five, six, eight, 10 extra games. The rule was put in to prevent any benefit going to teams in warm weather areas or large population areas.

“We take a lot of time to go over all this in the fall. People think something is no big deal and schools wind up on probation. This thing is over with.”

Even if CSUN officials were inclined to pursue the matter further, this isn’t the year to do so. The school was found guilty several months ago by the NCAA of holding an illegal tryout for several football recruits and escaped with a slap on the wrist.

Tom Keele, then head football coach and no longer affiliated with the school, was forbidden from recruiting for a period of time. But he was subsequently not appointed for another year. His exit from the school ended the controversy over illegal activity at CSUN, controversy unprecedented in the school’s nearly 30 years of existence. And no one on campus wants to see such controversy renewed.

What Rodnunsky and Brandt did was certainly minor. It was certainly not an attempt to extend their season with a series of games.

But it was wrong. They were told it was wrong. And if they wanted to know the penalty, they should have asked beforehand.

Tough penalty? It sure is. Easily avoidable? It sure was.