Yuba City High JV baseball involved in brawl

The Yuba City High junior varsity team scrapped a week of action after players brawled with Del Campo at a tournament in Granite Bay on Monday.

Coaches and others involved in the athletic department believe "stiff" punishment will be handed out after a thorough investigation is completed.

A person near the Del Campo side of the dugout captured most of the altercations and posted a video on YouTube on Monday.

The video reveals Yuba City players running across the field toward first base before several of them began throwing punches. Del Campo players also threw punches, but most of the attacks came from Honkers. Coaches, game officials and umpires, along with a couple of parents, tried to hold players back.

A side skirmish closer to the Del Campo dugout wasn't clear enough for description.

According to sources, both teams had been "jawing" at each other throughout the game. But the melee occurred in the sixth inning after the Del Campo first base coach made comments to the Yuba City dugout and pitcher Jaylon Deas. Deas then turned and threw the ball from the mound at the coach. The ball missed the coach, but Deas charged the coach and benches cleared.

The game was tied 3-3, before it was called.

Yuba City High administrators did not return phone calls and those involved in the baseball program chose not to comment.

Pete Saco, commissioner of the Sac-Joaquin Section, did make contact with Yuba City High administrators on Tuesday, but is allowing the administration to hand out proper punishment.

"Generally, in situations like this, our kind of M.O. is to let the school handle this," said Will DeBoard, Sac-Joaquin Section Director of Communications. "We let the school be the disciplinarian."

This could be considered the second black eye to the Yuba City High baseball program after an amazing 18-season reign with Jim Stassi as the head coach. Stassi stepped down in 2010 after the Honkers went 116-9 and won four straight section titles over his last four seasons.

While the Honkers captured their seventh consecutive conference title last season, since Stassi's departure, the program has been out of sorts.

Last year, the school ruled an assistant ineligible for a volunteer frosh coaching position because of his 10-year-old felony conviction for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

The school then declined to ask head coach Vicente Luevano back after a 23-6 campaign.

Dave Rodriguez has since taken over the varsity team, which is 9-5 overall.