Bluffton High coach Bryant Kitty will have to wait a little while longer before he can return to his Bobcats baseball team.

Kitty and Battery Creek assistant Dan McCaw were both handed down district-mandated suspensions last week after the two had “a pretty heated discussion” following the schools’ game on March 11, district spokesman Jim Foster said.

McCaw finished out his suspension Friday night following the Dolphins’ game against Ridgeland-Hardeeville. But Kitty’s return is in question after Bluffton’s Region 8-AAAA game Friday night with Colleton County was postponed.

The region clash would have been the second in Kitty’s three-game suspension, which was issued after he and McCaw got into a disagreement that “was not directly related to the game,” following Battery Creek’s 8-7 win on March 11, Foster confirmed.

But umpires failed to show for the Colleton County game, and Cougars coaches did not agree to a replacement official upon learning that the umpire had a son on the Bobcats’ team. A makeup date was not immediately scheduled.

S.C. High School League rules stipulate that teams must meet on their next available date if the original game was postponed by rain. Whether the same will apply in this instance is unknown, Bluffton athletics director Dave Adams said.

“I don’t know if that gives you any latitude to pick another date,” he said.

Kitty and McCaw have not been able to coach or take part in practices since the incident, but the suspension did not have an effect on their teaching duties. No laws or SCHSL bylaws were broken after the argument and the suspensions were handled by the district internally, Foster said.

McCaw, a physical education teacher at H.E. McCracken, will be able to resume practicing with his team for the first time Saturday while Kitty’s original return was slated for Tuesday. That now seems likely to be pushed back if the Colleton County game cannot be immediately rescheduled.

Bluffton travels to Summerville on Monday night, which would have been the final game of Kitty’s suspension. They will play again on Wednesday against Fort Mill.

Assistant coach Justin Robinson will continue to manage the Bobcats in the interim.