Police probe alleged water cooler contamination in Kansas Wesleyan-Bethany College baseball game
Police in Lindsborg, Kansas, are investigating an allegation that a water cooler was contaminated with a foreign substance during a men's college baseball rivalry game between Kansas Wesleyan and Bethany College.
"Kansas Wesleyan filed a police report with us on Monday morning," Linsdborg Police chief Mike Davis wrote in an email to Paste BN Sports Wednesday afternoon. "Shortly after that we were contacted by Bethany College who also provided us with information regarding the incident. We are currently conducting an ongoing investigation and both Colleges are cooperating. At this time we are interviewing students on both teams. Other than that we will not comment on the investigation until it is concluded."
Both programs are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. Bethany is located in Lindsborg, while Kansas Wesleyan is in Salina, less than a half-hour's drive away.
Kansas Wesleyan University athletic director Steve Wilson told the Associated Press on Monday that a player or staffer discovered that a foreign substance appeared to have been mixed in with the team's water during a doubleheader on Sunday. Because the games were played on Bethany's campus, it provided the water for its opponent, as it customary, Wilson told the AP.
Bethany athletic director Laura Moreno also confirmed to the Associated Press on Monday that the school was launching its own investigation to look into the matter.
"I’ve talked to both schools and we’re just trying to figure out what actually happened," Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference commissioner Scott Crawford told The Wichita Eagle. "We are most concerned about the health and welfare of the student-athletes, the coaches and anyone who might have potentially drank some of that water."
The possible contamination was first made public in a tweet posted by the KWU Barstool account that contains an image of the alleged cooler.
Though it's unclear if any players, coaches or staffers were harmed by the alleged contamination, the tweet by the KWU Barstool account states "all our players are okay." The tweet states that the alleged substance mixed in was paint thinner.
The first game of the series was played Friday, with Bethany toppling Kansas Wesleyan, 6-4. Then, both teams split Sunday's doubleheader, with Bethany taking the first game, 8-7, before Kansas Wesleyan erupted for a school-record in runs to beat Bethany, 33-2. That broke the previous program record of 27 runs scored in 2018.