CMS baseball violated hazing policy, will play remainder of season on probation

A investigation into the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team’s activities found that team members violated the athletic department’s hazing policy and codes of conduct at two different schools on the night of March 30, the athletic department told students in an email Friday.

The team, which interim CMS Athletic Director Sutton said “cooperated fully with the review process,” will resume activities Monday, although it will remain on probation until the end of the academic year.

Sutton said the team will be working with the colleges to reinforce the CMS code of conduct.

“Significantly, the CMS baseball team has collectively demonstrated an understanding and acknowledgement of the significance of their actions and has reaffirmed its commitment to exemplifying the guiding values and core beliefs that provide the foundation for the CMS … code of conduct,” Sutton said.

Claremont McKenna College and Harvey Mudd College will address individual students’ conduct violations in accordance with their respective conduct procedures, the email said. The athletic department will also “resolve any potential competitive sanctions on individual players” in accordance with its policies.

The violations occurred on CMC’s campus at the team’s annual senior-organized “talent show,” in which first-year players typically perform talents for the rest of the team, a baseball team alumnus told TSL via message. The alumnus, speaking on background because he did not want to represent a team he is no longer a part of, said he heard “no one was hurt or in danger, but it sounds like [security] was nearby and felt obligated to intervene.”

The team’s activities were canceled for a week while the department investigated the incident.

The Stags (13-8-1, 6-6 SCIAC) have won six of their past nine outings and had to cancel three games against Willamette this weekend.

This incident marks the second CMS team found to have violated the CMS conduct policies in the past two school years. Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams were suspended last February while the department investigated potential conduct violations, including the alleged assault of a student employee at Pomona College’s Rains Center. The men’s team was eventually barred from competing in three meets and select women’s team members were banned from one.