Yucaipa Player’s Suspension Upheld

A Yucaipa High baseball player removed from the team earlier this month after missing practice to work at a polling station to earn credit for his U.S. government class will not be allowed back on the team, the Yucaipa High Athletic Council determined.

Brandon Hardesty, a senior outfielder and pitcher, said he told Yucaipa Coach Jeff Stout the day before the March 5 elections that he would miss the after-school practice, but Stout said that was not a valid excuse. When he showed up for practice the day after the elections, Hardesty was summoned to Stout’s office, where Hardesty claimed Stout told him to remove his uniform at once because he was no longer on the team. Hardesty said he complied and left Stout’s office in his underwear.

Hardesty said it wasn’t until after the suspension that Stout said he was not permitted to miss practice because he did not give the required 24-hour notice. He was suspended for insubordination.

Officials from the school and the Yucaipa-Calabasas Unified School District would not comment on the suspension but issued a statement that read: “After hearing the statements and information from Brandon Hardesty, Mr. and Mrs. Hardesty, and the baseball coaching staff and the coordinator of the poll worker training [program], the Athletic Council unanimously determined that the suspension be upheld and should continue for the remainder of the season.”

Hardesty said he doesn’t plan to appeal the suspension.

“I just want to make sure this won’t happen to anyone else,” Hardesty said. “I want the way they suspend people to be reviewed. It wasn’t made clear that missing practice would result in me being dropped from the team.”

Dan Arritt