FRACAS SHELVES MOREHOUSE PITCHER

For Morehead State pitcher Rick Cercy, the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament being played in Cape Girardeau did not go exactly like he had planned.

Cercy suffered a broken leg when he fell and then others fell on him during an altercation between several Morehead players and a group of fans late Thursday night just moments after the Indians had rallied to beat Cercy's Eagles 10-9.

A junior righthander, Cercy underwent surgery for a broken left tibia Friday afternoon at Southeast Missouri Hospital. He said he expects to be released Sunday and then will make the long trip back to Morehead, Ky.

"I'm hurting a little bit right now," said Cercy from his hospital room early Friday afternoon, a few hours before his scheduled surgery.

According to several reports, a group of fans had been taunting and yelling at several Morehead players during the game, which the Eagles led most of the way.

Southeast scored the tying and winning runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, after which time Cercy -- who did not play in the game -- said the group of fans continued to taunt and yell at the Morehead players.

Cercy said several of the Eagles, upset after the tough loss, confronted the fans just outside the visitors' dugout area immediately following the game that ended after midnight.

"They (the fans) had been taunting us the whole game and after the game the fans came right next to the dugout where you walk out," said Cercy. "It was a tough loss and nobody was in the mood to listen to anything.

"Some of the players came out (of the dugout). Everybody was pushing and shoving. One of my teammates started fighting with a fan, then another fan started jumping on my teammate."

Cercy said he attempted to help his teammate and that's when he ended up breaking his leg.

"I had my shoe stepped on, I fell to the ground and some guys fell on top of me and on my leg," he said.

Cercy said it didn't take long for him to figure the leg had been broken.

"I pulled myself away, looked down and figured it was broke from the pain. It was intense," he said. "Then I could see the indention and knew it was broken."

Cercy had picked up the win in relief during Morehead's triumph over Tennessee Tech earlier Thursday and he was scheduled to start Friday during the Eagles' elimination game.

"It's disappointing," he said.