Four Chattanooga Lookouts players who were ejected last Saturday night following a dugout-clearing brawl at AT&T Field have been suspended three games without pay by the Southern League. Huntsville also had four players ejected, and they are receiving the same punishment.

The eight total suspensions are the most Don Mincher can remember in his nine seasons as league president.

“I know a few years back that Birmingham and somebody else had three or four suspensions, but I’m sure that this is the most,” Mincher said Thursday.

Three-game suspensions are standard league policy for players ejected for fighting, according to Mincher. The eight suspended players also have been fined, as has Lookouts manager Mike Goff, but Mincher would not disclose the amounts of the fines.

Pitcher Sam LeCure, catcher Craig Tatum, second baseman Justin Turner and outfielder Sean Henry are the four Lookouts who were suspended. Turner currently is serving his suspension in Mobile.

“We’re not sure on the next round as far as who it’s going to be yet,” Goff said. “We’re kind of contemplating dates and matchups and how we can pull this thing off without hurting our club even worse. When you have something like this, you don’t get a chance to replace the player. You have to play a player short.

“We don’t want to comment on who’s going to be next until we’re 100 percent sure, but we’ll get through this mess somehow.”

Last Saturday’s troubles began in the bottom of the fourth inning when Huntsville relief pitcher Patrick Ryan hit Tonys Gutierrez in the knee. Gutierrez had hit a grand slam off Stars starter Donovan Hand in the second inning, and Ryan had just allowed a solo shot to Danny Dorn before throwing at Gutierrez.

Ryan was up first against LeCure in the top of the fifth, and LeCure threw inside several times before allowing a walk. Michael Brantley was up next and, after dodging two inside pitches, lifted his bat at LeCure and walked toward the mound.

Tatum pounced on Brantley, and the dugouts emptied.

Huntsville manager Don Money accused Goff of throwing punches during the melee. Goff admitted to pulling Brantley’s shirt off after several Stars jumped on Tatum but said that he never threw any punches.

“I depended on the umpires, and I talked to each manager at length about all of this and made the best assessment that I could,” Mincher said. “No one saw Mike Goff throwing punches. He was seen in there getting players off, but it wasn’t enough in my assessment to warrant a suspension.”

Nearly as surprising as the brawl is the fact no quality video of it has surfaced.

“There is good and bad as far as video is concerned,” Mincher said. “I would always like to have a film of it to see what happened, but the film wouldn’t tell me what led up to it in the earlier innings or the games before. I have to rely on conversations, and my umpires gave me a pretty good description of what happened.”

The Lookouts and Stars are scheduled to meet again Aug. 12-16 at Huntsville’s Joe Davis Stadium and close the regular season at AT&T Aug. 28-Sept. 1.

“If it carries over, it could get really serious,” Mincher said. “We’re going to have baseball brawls, and this was a good one with eight suspensions, but it better not carry over.”

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