For the first time in his 11-year career as a head coach, Monte Lee was not in the dugout for Clemson’s 10-2 victory over Gardner-Webb Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson.

Instead, Lee served a one-game suspension due to the events that occurred in the latter stages of their win last Sunday at Georgia Tech. The Tigers’ head coach was suspended along with pitchers Sam Weatherly and Holt Jones, after all three were ejected.

A warning was issued by the home-plate umpire to both teams in the fifth inning at Georgia Tech last Sunday. Weatherly and Jones, who both entered the game after the seventh inning, were ejected in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Lee was automatically ejected as a result of the Jones’ ejection.

NCAA rules state that when a pitcher is ejected, that pitcher must serve a four-game suspension. Also due to NCAA rules, Lee was suspended for one game.

It all started in the bottom of the fifth inning when Clemson pitcher Travis Marr hit Tech’s Kyle McCann and Tristin English in back-to-back at-bats with the Tigers down three runs. Georgia Tech coach Andy Hall complained to the umpire that Clemson was intentionally trying to hit their batters.

“That was not the case at all,” Lee said. “I was pretty adamant about that after the game.”

Because tempers started to flare in both dugouts, both teams were issued a warning by home plate umpire Derek Mollica. Lee reiterated to the umpire that they were down three runs and were trying to win the game, so they were not trying to intentionally hit anyone. But Mollica had none of it and issued his warning in hopes of calming things down.

“I think just because there had been some talking going on between the players a little bit, nothing that I felt was uncalled for, the dugouts did not clear or anything like that, but the umpire issued a warning to both dugouts,” Lee said. “At that point in time and little did I know, or their dugout know, what was going to transpire after that.”

What transpired was Weatherly was ejected for misconduct on the field following a strikeout to end the eighth inning. Tech’s Keyton Gibson and Hall were ejected in the top of the ninth inning and Lee and Jones were ejected in the bottom of the ninth.

Mollica ruled Gibson and Jones intentionally went after the batters so he tossed them both. Due to the warning in the fifth inning, Lee and Hall were automatically ejected with their pitchers from the game and had to serve a one-game suspension.

“We would never throw at a batter on purpose,” Lee said. “You can hurt somebody pretty badly with a baseball, especially throwing as hard as some of these guys throw. We would never want to do anything that could potentially hurt a player.”

Both Gibson and Jones have to serve four-game suspensions according to the rule, as does Weatherly due to his actions following a warning.

“I understand where the umpire is coming from. He is trying to make sure nobody gets hurt,” Lee said. “He is trying to gain control of the game, but quite honestly, I did not feel like either hit batters were intentional. I know ours wasn’t. We were up four runs at that point.

“We hit three guys in that game and at no point in time where we intentionally trying to throw at a batter.”

After the game, Clemson checked to see if they could appeal the ruling, but there is no appeal process for the rule.

“I called a couple of different folks right after the game and they were great,” Lee said. “We talked to folks from the league office and to the head of the umpires. They were great. They explained the rules and were very professional about it. There was no issue on my part with the explanations I got.

“It is pretty cut and dry. It is an NCAA rule, not a league rule. Therefore, the league office, the umpires, they can’t really … there is no appeal process to an ejection. It just states pretty simply in the NCAA rules that if a pitcher is ejected for what is seen as intentionally throwing at a batter, it is a four-game suspension.”

Lee, who did not file a formal complaint on Mollica, is all for rules being in place to protect the players. However, he believes suspending a pitcher for four games, especially a bullpen pitcher, is a little harsh and the punishment does not necessarily fit the crime, especially in this case when it was obvious Gibson and Jones were not trying to intentionally hit either batter.

“I think it is awfully tough, and I am not trying to be critical to our rules,” Lee said. “But I think is awfully tough, from a coach’s perspective, when an average nine-inning ballgame there are three hundred pitches thrown between both sides. If there is ever a warning in that ballgame issued, if tempers ever flare or whatsoever and there is a warning issued and from whatever point in time that warning is issued, and in our case, it was in the fifth inning of the game.

“So, you have roughly seventy-five pitches on each side still to throw. We are asking college pitchers, not big-league pitchers, college pitchers to throw one hundred and fifty pitches without hitting a batter. And if they do? They are going to get a four-game suspension when they are ejected.”

That is the part Lee does not think is fair to the student-athletes.

“It is too harsh, and the reason is because these kids are not perfect,” he said.

In college baseball, the game is not policed like it is at the pro level. College pitchers are not trying to hit batters intentionally.

“That is not part of the college culture in baseball. Nobody does it,” Lee said. “I am in my eleventh year as a college head coach and I have never seen a player ejected for hitting a batter and I saw two in one game because a warning had been issued. Because the thought, the thought, was we had hit a batter on purpose and that to me, I just think it is unfair to ask college players to be that perfect.”

Lee will be back in the dugout on Sunday when the Tigers travel to Shelby, N.C., and play Gardner-Webb in Game 2 of their series. Weatherly and Jones, two of Clemson’s top bullpen arms, will not be back on the mound for Clemson until next Friday when they play at NC State in Game 1 of that series.