De La Salle baseball accused of sign stealing, denies wrongdoing

A baseball coach from a school in De La Salle’s league is accusing the Concord powerhouse of relaying catchers’ signs to batters, according to a formal complaint filed on Friday to the North Coast Section office.

In the complaint, which was obtained by the Bay Area News Group, Dougherty Valley coach Kyle Stewart alleged that De La Salle has “personnel whom have devices such as cameras, telephoto lenses, walkie talkies, and verbal cadence from the coaching staff (that) creates a litany of questionable actions.”

De La Salle strongly denied the allegations.

The school’s athletic director, Leo Lopoz, wrote in a text message on Friday night that an internal investigation “found absolutely no evidence of sign stealing.”

NCS commissioner Pat Cruickshank confirmed that his office received the complaint and is hopeful that the schools can resolve the matter on their own.

“This is a complaint from one school to the other, and their two administrations can work on this together, and if I need to get involved I will,” Cruickshank told the Bay Area News Group on Friday. “I’d like to see if the two schools can handle things themselves, and if it’s unfounded, then it’s unfounded. If they agree on that, great. If not, we’ll take a look.”

Stewart declined to comment about the matter. Dougherty Valley athletic director SueEllen Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

The complaint alleges that during a game at Dougherty Valley on March 27, De La Salle coach David Jeans “repeatedly vacated the third base coaches area to peek over the foul line and into the catcher’s finger signals” before calling out “trust it” for a fastball or “battle” for an offspeed pitch.

The complaint states that Jeans stopped relaying signs when parents in the stands told him they were recording his actions.

During the next game between the teams, Tuesday at De La Salle, the complaint states that Jeans attempted to relay signs the same way for the first two innings.

“After the second inning, our pitcher, catcher, and staff completely changed our pitch calling signs,” the complaint claimed. “De La Salle had one hit for the remainder of the game.”

The complaint also alleges that during Tuesday’s game, a Dougherty Valley player noticed a man with a camera and large lens shooting from behind the center-field fence.

“The same player allegedly heard a pitch called from that same area of (the) fence, and immediately called time out and yelled “this guy back here is calling pitches,” the complaint states. “The man in question immediately packed up his stuff and scurried off.”

Jeans declined to comment when approached by a Bay Area News Group reporter after his team’s 7-3 victory at California on Friday.

Later Friday, Lopoz provided his statement, which read in full:

“On May 1, following a baseball game against Dougherty Valley High School on April 30, De La Salle was informed that some attending Dougherty Valley parents had made allegations that a photographer had been seen in the outfield and that this person had relayed game signs to De La Salle’s dugout during play.

“De La Salle immediately followed established protocols and conducted an internal investigation. This investigation found absolutely no evidence of sign stealing. Moreover, the photographer was identified as someone who attends and photographs high school baseball games and is well-known throughout the local area. He was at the game to take photographs for his personal use and to sell these images. He was not there at De La Salle’s direction or request.

“On May 3, De La Salle was copied on a letter that Dougherty Valley sent to North Coast Section (NCS), formally alleging sign stealing by De La Salle. In response, De La Salle immediately reached out to Dougherty Valley to refute the allegation and communicated the findings of its internal investigation with NCS and the East Bay Athletic League (EBAL).”

Neither NCS nor CIF addresses sign stealing in its bylaws. The practice is well documented throughout baseball history, but generally confined to the players and the field of play. When a team uses a scheme or technology to steal signs, that’s often viewed as breaking the bounds of sportsmanship.