Ky. high school coach, angry at umpire, injures player when he throws baseball equipment

The Graves County High School baseball coach has been placed on leave after he picked up equipment during a game and threw it into his team’s dugout, where it struck a juvenile in the face, a superintendent said.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that it is investigating the Saturday incident in which Coach Joshua Byrd allegedly threw a weighted baseball sleeve.

Graves County Superintendent Matthew Madding told the Herald-Leader that district officials are also investigating the incident.

Coach Byrd has been placed on leave pending the investigation, said Madding.

“Since this is an ongoing investigation, we won’t have further comment at this time,” said Madding.

On Saturday, just before 4 p.m., Lyon County Sheriff’s Deputies and the Eddyville Police Department responded to a disturbance complaint at Lee S. Jones Park at the high school baseball field.

Lyon County EMS was also dispatched for a 14- year-old male juvenile who had reportedly been struck in the mouth, and a brief disturbance broke out among fans and coaches with the opposing team, a news release said.

“Further investigation revealed a visiting team baseball coach became upset following a call by an umpire,” the news release said. “During his moment of frustration, he picked up a weighted bat sleeve and threw it into his team’s dugout where it struck the juvenile in the face causing injury to the student player.”

“Following this event, a brief disturbance broke out among fans and coaches with the opposing team,” a news release said.

Lyon County EMS transported the juvenile to Baptist Health in Paducah for treatment of his injuries.

Video evidence and witness statements from both sides

were collected by law enforcement, the news release said.

Lyon County Sheriff Brent White told the Herald-Leader that the player was home from the hospital.

“There’s been no decision on charges at this time,” White said Monday. “The investigation is continuing.”

“We do not believe this was an intentional act,” he said. “If there’s any criminality involved, it’s probably wanton conduct. There could be criminal conduct, but its too early to determine if we are going to do that.”

White said he was going to present evidence to a prosecutor and was going to get copies of the player’s medical records.

This story was originally published April 3, 2023 at 12:38 PM.