Drug policies lenient in SEC?

Report: Those who fail tests tend to get more chances. Penalties vary with schools in league.

MONTGOMERY, ALA.

Players testing positive — for marijuana in the mighty Southeastern Conference do not face the one-year suspension that comes from getting busted by the NCAA.

In the most successful league of the BCSera, players routinely get third, fourth and even fifth chances before they’re booted from the team; failed drug tests administered by the NCAA result in the automatic suspension. The finding comes from an Associated Press examination of the drug policies at 11 current members of the SEC. Vanderbilt, a private institution, declined to make its rules available. All the SEC schools the AP looked at had far more lenient drug policies than the NCAA, though the penalties varied widely.

The NCAA conducts its own drug checks and leaves testing policies to the schools, but the governing body released a report in January saying that more than a quarter of college football players admitted in 2009 that they smoked marijuana in the previous year.

Just how many suspensions for recreational drug use are handed down in the SEC or any NCAA-affiliated conference is unknown because privacy rules prohibit schools from disclosing positive tests. They’re not even required to tell the NCAA.

However, several SEC standouts have been in the news recently.

Former Auburn running back Mike Dyer testified in an April court case involving a teammate that he consistently smoked synthetic marijuana during his Tigers career, LSU star Tyrann Mathieu was suspended one game for violating the team’s drug policy last year and Georgia All-America safety Bacarri Rambo could miss a game or two next season for failing a drug test. COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS

After taking the lead — in the fifth inning Saturday afternoon, the Dayton Flyers were a confident team.

They had jumped ahead 9-6 on Robby Sunderman’s two-out, threerun home run and Burny Mitchem was pitching. Mitchem had set down three straight after relieving starter Tim Bury in the fourth. With the school’s strikeout leader on the mound with a three-run cushion, all seemed well.

Then came the onslaught as TCU went on a 22-0 run and it all fell apart for Dayton in a 28-12 loss eliminating the Flyers from their first visit to an NCAA baseball regional.

TCU (37-20) plated seven runs in the sixth, six in the seventh and nine in the ninth, completing a 23-hit afternooon. Dayton (31-30) had 11 hits but will look back at four errors that helped keep alive big innings.

“We had to throw a lot of pitches after the errors,”

— Austin Cousino GARY, IND. had three hits and drove in three runs as Kentucky survived elimination with an 8-1 victory over Valparaiso on Saturday at the Gary Regional.

The Wildcats (44-17) scored six of their runs with two outs, including a five-run sixth inning which broke open the game. Kentucky starter Jerad Grundy (6-3) threw six strong innings to help save a pitching staff that was depleted by Friday night’s 21-inning 7-6 loss to Kent State.

Chandler Shepherd pitched the final three innings in relief to earn his first save. Dayton coach Tony Vittorio said. “(Mitchem) had to get eight outs in one inning (due to errors). For some reason we had trouble seeing some foul balls. I think that adds to it more than the heat or weather.”

Seven Dayton pitchers labored through 96-degree heat at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

TCU’s Just Scharf (3-2) tossed 1 ⅓ spotless innings with four strikeouts in relief to earn the win. Mitchem (6-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing seven runs, four earned, on three hits in one inning.

“At one point you wish you could speed up the clock a little bit, but you can’t do that in baseball,” said Vittorio after the 4hour, 7- minute game. “I’m very disappointed in the way we played.”

Jared Broughton cracked a three-run homer in the ninth for the Flyers in a failed attempt at a rally.

“It’s not the way we pictured going out,” the junior said. “We’re really proud that we got to this point. We battled to the last pitch today even though things didn’t go our way.”

Seniors Brian Blasik and Zach Stewart each had two hits, along with Broughton, who added four RBIs. Dayton was unable