Memorial High School baseball locker room vandalized, players' equipment stolen over weekend

By: Liz Bryant NBC Channel 2, Tulsa, OK


TULSA -- It's a curve ball the Memorial High School baseball team didn't see coming.

On Monday afternoon, Coach Steve Irvine walked into a ransacked high school locker room. Players' black bags unzipped and strewn out across the locker room floor. Locker doors open. Clothes everywhere.

As Irvine's blood pressure rose, he blamed his players.

Irvine wrote "facility clean-up day" on the dry erase board, with full intention he would teach his high-schoolers a lesson about taking care of your stuff.

When the bell rang for baseball practice, one by one, players told the coach they couldn't find their stuff.

It started with shortstop Michael Smith.

The junior asked his teammates, "Who touched my glove?"

Twenty baseball players later, the coach figured out his assumption was wrong.

A thief stole around $4,000 to $5,000 worth of baseball gear. Irvine counted nine bats, four pairs of cleats and six gloves.

"It's life, it's going to kick you in the worst times. Just like we were telling our kids, our motto here is 'find a way. Find a way to move on. Make the next play" said Irvine.

Irvine contacted Tulsa Public Schools campus police to see if there's any surveillance video in the area. He believes this happened between Saturday night and Monday morning.

Their locker room is right next to the baseball field.

Players said they will figure out a way to play, even if that means wearing their coaches old gear.

Catcher Trevor Boone said "with a curve ball you might get another chance. This might be our second chance. This might be what we needed to move on, get better, maybe come out winning."