We were concerned after Game 1 of the Mississippi High School 5A North baseball playoff series between Oxford and New Hope when Chargers head coach Chris Baughman talked extensively about “bad blood” between the two teams.

Consider Baughman’s words: “There’s a lot of bad blood,” the Oxford head coach said. “There’s bad blood between the teams. There’s bad blood between the coaches. There’s bad blood all over the place.”

We were surprised that a head coach would make such an aggressive statement, almost stirring tension more. But we hoped that it would rest there, and that nothing more from the high school baseball series would arise.

Now, we have experienced the end of this story, however, considering that after game 2 of the series this weekend — a series won by our Oxford Chargers — an incident apparently occurred which has resulted so far in the suspension of some assistant coaches for the state championship series.

Oxford schools say it is investigating the incident, which apparently involved coaches stopping the bus for players to take a photo in front of a New Hope sign on the way out after winning the series.

Oxford fans will undoubtedly be quick to point toward New Hope for its role in the “bad blood.” But Oxford is responsible for Oxford, and Baughman and other coaches should know better than stirring tension.

There simply cannot be “bad blood” between two Mississippi high school teams, and especially not the coaches, or these teams cannot play and the coaches cannot coach.