In WPIAL hearing, Baldwin seeks clarity on ‘very gray’ PIAA rule banning preseason workouts

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, March 24, 2025 | 11:55 PM

Holding a preseason workout with a baseball team from another school was a mistake, Baldwin’s representatives said at a WPIAL hearing Monday, but they also questioned whether a PIAA rule was too vaguely written.

The rule prohibits teams from “participating in any team competition” in the 10 days leading up to their first official preseason practice. The Baldwin and Central Valley baseball teams worked out together with their coaches Feb. 22, which was during that 10-day restricted period.

This was the second year in a row that the Baldwin baseball team ran afoul of the rule, according to the WPIAL, prompting Monday’s hearing at the league office in Scott.

WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer said any discipline imposed on Baldwin by the WPIAL board would be announced in the next 10 days. The league already placed Central Valley baseball on probation and took away one of the team’s scrimmages for next season.

Baldwin athletic director Tony Cherico questioned the PIAA’s interpretation of “competition,” saying the rule’s wording was “very gray.” Batters from one school faced pitchers from the other in Baldwin’s joint workout, but Cherico said there was nobody calling balls and strikes, no bases and no fielders.

School district solicitor Annemarie Harr said Baldwin wasn’t denying any wrongdoing but was seeking clarity on the rule. Cherico called the workout an “honest mistake” by first-year baseball coach Scott Wolf.

The PIAA rule says: “Within 10 days prior to the start of each sports season, no student enrolled at a PIAA member high school may participate in any team competition on a team on which all other players and at least one coach are also affiliated at that student’s school.”

The New Castle and Laurel softball teams also violated the rule this spring, Seltzer said. Both teams were placed on probation and lost a preseason scrimmage for next year.

Seltzer said he believed the rule was clear. He said the PIAA board originally considered enacting a stricter 10-day shutdown in which no workouts would be allowed, but some PIAA districts found that too restrictive.

Instead, the board settled on banning “team competition” in those 10 days. The rule was enacted in 2019 and applies to all sports.

“I think the intent is clear,” Seltzer said. “Don’t have any competition, practice, scrimmage, get-together or whatever you want to call it with another school in those 10 days.”

Seltzer is the WPIAL’s top administrator but not a voting member of the board.

Wolf said he was made aware of the rule but said it slipped his mind at the time. He said the joint workout was originally scheduled a week earlier — prior to the 10-day period — but was delayed because of winter weather.

According to testimony, the workout was held at the Wallace Building, a former junior high school now utilized by school district sports teams. The workout included approximately 45 baseball players with 30 from Baldwin.

“It was just a practice,” Wolf told the WPIAL board.

Wolf wasn’t at Baldwin for last year’s violation. He previously was an assistant coach at Central Valley. Wolf said he “made a mistake” by not recognizing a potential violation in advance, noting that “a new coach has a lot to absorb.”

Cherico said he was unaware of the combined practice with Central Valley until afterward. He said all such joint workouts must now be approved by him under a new athletic department policy, whether held at Baldwin or elsewhere.

The Baldwin baseball team finished 1-19 overall last season and went 0-15 in the section. The Highlanders have yet to play a game this spring.

The PIAA rule establishing the 10-day period falls under regulations about open gyms. The PIAA limits those out-of-season workouts to two hours per day and three days per week during the school year. Weight training and conditioning workouts, if voluntary, are permitted daily.

According to testimony, the Baldwin-Central Valley workout lasted four hours, but Wolf said athletes came and went with none participating for more than two hours.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Baldwin