NFHS Network
With each passing round, the California High School Baseball playoffs seemingly get more and more bizarre. That continued on Thursday evening when both Verdugo Hills and Roosevelt were disqualified from the Division V tournament after a benches-clearing altercation in the semifinals.
Verdugo Hills led the game 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when a seemingly routinely rundown play between third and home led to a Verdugo Hills runner knocking over the Roosevelt third baseman. Afterward, the third baseman stood up and shoved the runner.
Here’s the dust-up between Verdugo Hills and Roosevelt in the bottom of the 6th.
Due to most players clearing the benches, looks like neither team will advance to the CIF State SoCal Regional DV final.
Coastal Academy (5-2 winners over Schurr) are crowned the champions. pic.twitter.com/0zvR5IjVO6
— Tarek Fattal (@Tarek_Fattal) June 5, 2026
Several Roosevelt players then surrounded the base runners before both benches cleared. While it doesn’t appear that any punches were thrown, CIF rules state that players must sit out the next game when leaving the bench, meaning that Verdugo Hills won’t advance even though they were leading at the time of the incident.
As a result, Coastal Academy was crowned the Division V champion via forfeit.
The California High School Baseball Playoffs Have Been Crazy
The benches-clearing incident is just the latest in a long line of strange stories emanating from the high school baseball playoffs in California.
Last week, Ganesha High School threatened to forfeit a game after several of its players planned to be unavailable due to travel ball schedule complications. Ultimately, they’d go on to play and win the game, with star pitcher and LSU commit Logan Schmidt getting the save.
Then, a game between Culver City and Glendora had to be stopped in the 13th inning due to darkness. Glendora went on to win the game 12-11 the following day.
There are plenty of games yet to be played in the California state tournament, which means plenty of chaos could still be yet to come. Especially given the amount we’ve already had in the last week.