High School Baseball Coach Dismissed After Team Kills Snake to Stop Losing Streak

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — 

A Tampa Bay area high school baseball coach has been temporarily relieved of his duties while authorities investigate the killing and burial of a snake on his team's field. Palm Harbor University High School second baseman Zach Sobel says Jeremy Albrecht told the team last week that they were "snake-bitten" and needed to stop their losing streak.

So, Sobel says, the team bought and killed a snake, then buried it on the field during the school's spring break.

The coach wasn't present.

A Pinellas County schools spokeswoman says Albrecht is temporarily sidelined while authorities investigate.

A sheriff's office spokeswoman says nothing has been found on the field.

Albrecht told the St. Petersburg Times that he can't comment during an ongoing investigation.

Fox New Online, April 9,2009,