IUP baseball team faces sanctions for too many games

Because IUP was on the threshold of surpassing the 50-game limit for the regular season, the Crimson Hawks’ baseball program is facing sanctions from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

The PSAC announced Tuesday that IUP, which “failed to monitor its permissible NCAA contest limitations,” will forfeit a game and face additional penalties.

The penalization will not affect postseason qualification.

IUP has a 27-20 record and has a four-game PSAC series to play Thursday and Friday against Gannon.

Playing those games would give the team 51 games, so, the league will force the Crimson Hawks to forfeit one of the games.

IUP will have a forfeit loss, and Gannon a forfeit win, and both will be reflected in the conference standings.

The first game will be nine innings at IUP on Thursday, while the last two games will be part of a doubleheader Friday at Gannon.

IUP also will get a 0.022 reduction to its winning percentage, which is part of the PSAC’s “nullification penalty” for not completing the mandated schedule. Nullification allows the NCAA and conferences to manage penalties while still allowing teams to compete.

In addition, IUP will only be permitted to play 46 regular-season games in 2024.

“We believe the sanctions are appropriate,” PSAC commissioner Steve Murray said in a news release.

“There are teams in contention for a playoff spot that need to be considered and, frankly, IUP’s players, in no fault of their own, deserve a chance to control their fate.”