Alabama athletic department 'actively seeking' info about baseball team, 'suspicious' betting activity

A day after ESPN reported that the state of Ohio halted all betting on Alabama baseball games due to “suspicious” activity, the Crimson Tide athletic department has issued a statement on the matter. In short, they’re looking into the matter — one that remains murky to the general public.

“Alabama Athletics became aware of this situation Monday evening and is actively seeking information about the report,” the university said in a statement, according to Mike Rodak of AL.com. The NCAA apparently began looking into the issue as of Tuesday morning.

The action taking by the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) stemmed from oddities that arose over the weekend as Alabama faced No. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge.

OCCC director Matthew T. Schuler issued the following emergency order, shared with On3.

“The Ohio Casino Control Commission has received reports from one of its certified independent integrity monitors regarding wagers made on University of Alabama Baseball,” Schuler said. “In response to these reports, I am issuing an emergency order to licensees under Ohio Adm. Code 3775-11-01(E)(2), prohibiting the acceptance of any wagers on University of Alabama Baseball effective immediately. Any wagers placed on an incomplete sporting event that has had wagering suspended through the issuance of an emergency order must be voided in accordance with Chapter 3775-11-01(F).”

The NCAA issued a separate statement earlier on Tuesday, acknowledging they were looking into the matter, too.

“The NCAA takes sports wagering very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition,” the statement read. “We are aware of this issue and actively gathering additional information.”

Since Alabama was playing LSU, Louisiana also received an alert about suspicious activity, according to NOLA.com. Chairman Ronnie Johns said since bets were placed in Cincinnati, they raised some red flags.

“There were a couple of bets made in Cincinnati, Ohio,” Johns said. “One was on a parlay which involved the LSU-Alabama game, and then there was another straight-up (money line) bet, I was told it was a large bet that involved LSU-Alabama.”

LSU was about a -245 favorite to win the game, according to ESPN, and Johns confirmed the bets were on the Tigers to win. That’s why he doesn’t think the suspicious activity came from the LSU side.

“That in itself indicates that there’s definitely no suspicious activity on the part of LSU,” Johns said. “You don’t typically suspect the team that was picked to win the game. The problem would have been whether someone on the Alabama side was suspicious of activity.”

Per NCAA rules, “participation in sports wagering activities and from providing information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports wagering activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics competition.”

Heading into the eighth inning of Friday’s game, LSU held an 8-1 lead before Alabama scored five runs over the final two innings, including four in the top of the ninth inning.

LSU pitcher Griffin Herring allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in 2.2 innings pitched. Bryce Collins then came in to close it out, allowing a hit and striking out the final batter of the inning.

On3’s Nick Schultz, Griffin McVeigh and Andy Wittry contributed to this report.