Coach of a college baseball team was forced to resign because of players’ use of communication devices inside of their helmets.
According to the NY Post, baseball coach Rodney Velardi worked at Atlantic Cape Community College for 13 years.
A representative from Atlantic Cape told the Courier-Post newspaper in New Jersey that the National Junior College Athletic Association had looked into the event.
“After the situation with the game, he was suspended pending the outcome of the NJCAA Region 19 review, and at that time, we had asked for him to resign,” According to Courier-Post, Atlantic Cape’s chief marketing officer, Laura Batchelor, made the statement.
Rob Valli, the head coach at Rowan College Gloucester County, claimed that during a game on April 21, one of his pitchers claimed that players from Atlantic Cape were involved. “Were getting really good swings on pitches that he thought were good pitches.”
On April 22, first baseman Felix Diaz informed Valli that he had heard odd noises emanating from an Atlantic Cape player’s helmet.
“I just thought, ‘nah.’ I didn’t believe it. I didn’t not believe him, but for that sophisticated of cheating, I just didn’t think they would do it. I didn’t think they would do it. For me, I wasn’t going to go right up there in the first inning. We had to confirm that’s what it was. So, second time up, those same guys got on, and he was confirming with me the whole time. Once those guys got on, he’s saying, ‘I hear it. I hear it.’”
Valli suspects foul play and asks the umpire for confirmation.
According to Valli, the umpire was “as surprised as I was,” according to the Courier-Post.
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“The reaction was I went out and said they have headsets in their helmets, and he seemed surprised. … He’s like, ‘how do you know?’ I explained our first baseman has been hearing this now and we just confirmed it the second time these guys got on base,” he said.
“In 30 years, I’ve never asked an umpire to check a helmet, but I’m out here now, and I’m telling you now you’re going to find earpieces in these helmets, and he goes, ‘OK, let’s check,’” he said.
The umpire discovered the contraptions and took them out.
On the field at Atlantic County Community College, was the baseball game rigged? Coach Valli thinks that the center field livestream camera could be to blame.
“They had a center-field camera, which I wasn’t watching the stream, but the center-field camera, they can see in, they can see the catcher, they can see the signs,” Valli said.
“Velardi, in his dugout, had an iPad in his hands, so my assumption, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, my assumption was he was using the iPad to watch the livestream, the center-field camera, and looking into the catcher’s signs. Whether he did or not, who could prove or say, but he had an iPad in the dugout and you’re not allowed to do that,” he said.
Following a complaint, BFA disabled Livestream, although managing partner Doug Stasuk tells viewers that it was highly unusual for anybody to have taken advantage of the 45-second delay.
Despite not being able to establish the usage of gadgets, Atlantic Cape thinks that their coach broke the regulations. Batchelor made this assertion.
“Whether or not that was done intentionally, we couldn’t tell, but he was in violation,” she said.
According to CBS, Batchelor revealed a following discussion devoted to ethical issues.
“We told them at the time coach Velardi was no longer with the program and they actually gave praise to our athletic director for being responsive with the investigation,” she said.
