Snyder, Who Threw Bat, Pleads Innocent to Assault

A minor league baseball player pleaded innocent to assault charges stemming from an incident Thursday night in which a bat he threw into the stands injured two women.

Cory Snyder, 23, shortstop for the Maine Guides, was released on his own recognizance Friday morning by a Rochester, N.Y., City Court judge who set a pre-trial conference for June 12.

Snyder, a former member of the U.S. Olympic baseball team and the Cleveland Indians’ No. 1 selection in the 1984 baseball draft, is charged with throwing his bat into the stands after hitting a fly-out to center field in an International League game with the Rochester Red Wings.

His bat hit two women, Dorothy Matteson, 61, and her granddaughter, Deborah Schirtz, 26. Both were treated for minor injuries and released from a nearby hospital.

They each filed a complaint against Snyder, who faces two counts of third-degree assault.

The bat-throwing incident prompted further violence as the Guides and the Red Wings cleared the bench twice for brawls. The Red Wings won the game, 3-2.

After the game, Snyder said he was trying to throw the bat toward the dugout and it stuck to his batting glove, which was coated with sticky pine tar.