CZECH REPUBLIC – An Australian baseball player competing in the Czech Republic has been charged with a criminal complaint after hitting an umpire in the head with an errant pitch. However, Technika Brno’s import pitcher Blake Cunningham calls the incident an unfortunate accident.

A heated Czech League matchup on Oct. 8 between Technika Brno and the Ostrava Arrows spiraled out of control after two Technika players were ejected during the fourth inning. Before the start of the next frame, Cunningham threw a warmup pitch from the mound that skipped in front of home plate and hit the umpire in the head causing serious injury and requiring surgery.

The Czech Baseball Association (CBA) filed a criminal complaint against Cunningham for committing a serious injury. The CBA, afraid that Cunningham would leave the country before the disciplinary commission of the CBA could complete its own investigation, will let a court inquiry decide if the actions of the Australian pitcher were intentional.

In a letter to defend himself, Cunningham wrote “I deeply regret what has happened and by all means can say how bad I feel about the current situation. I need to stress my concern on the doubtfullnes of this being intentional or not, but I can honestly say that this was no case of an intentional pitch to hit the umpire. This was just a wild pitch which got away from the catcher and the umpire being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Cunningham added. “I apologize deeply for what I have done and I hope that this can be put behind us and fellow Australians wanting to come and play in the Czech Republic, as it is a great country with many great people and I have had a wonderful time here.”

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Tags: Czech Republic