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Texas State Student Says She Has Been Repeatedly 'Harassed' By Indians' Trevor Bauer on Twitter

Bauer has tweeted at Nikki Giles, a senior at Texas State University, 80 times after she called him her "least favorite person in all sports" on Twitter.

Emily Caron

Texas State Student Says She Has Been Repeatedly 'Harassed' By Indians' Trevor Bauer on Twitter
Texas State Student Says She Has Been Repeatedly 'Harassed' By Indians' Trevor Bauer on Twitter /

Texas State University senior Nikki Giles told USA TODAY Sports that she has reported Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer to the team several times for repeated "harassment." 

Bauer had mentioned the college student in 80 different tweets as of Tuesday after the two exchanged then-seemingly-playful jabs on Twitter on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old pitcher said Thursday that he did not intend for his actions to have a negative impact.

"I have been made aware that some of the interactions related to a specific Twitter exchange may have had a negative impact," Bauer wrote on Twitter. "That was not my intention. I will wield the responsibility of my public platform more responsibly in the future."

Giles's exchange with Bauer started when she tweeted that Bauer was her "least favorite person in all sports" in response to the Indians' pitcher attempt to make fun of Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, who is Giles's favorite player.

Bauer responded to Giles by welcoming her “to the fan club.” The two went back and forth in an exchange that culminated with Giles mentioning that Bauer doesn’t have a World Series ring, which is when exchange turned more hostile.

After Giles's dig, Bauer scrolled through the senior's old tweets and publicized several of them.

"He went almost a year back into my Twitter to find a tweet about me drinking two months before my 21st birthday and exposed it to his followers," Giles told USA Today. 

Bauer kept tweeting at Giles even after she stopped responding. By Sunday, Bauer had tagged Giles in 12 tweets.

The harassment continued into Sunday night and Bauer began again first thing Monday morning by providing Giles with a "tutorial" on how to block someone on Twitter and accusing her of being "obsessed" with him.

By Tuesday, Bauer had tweeted at Giles 80 times which prompted her to block him.

“He blamed me for ‘continuously tweeting him,’” Giles told USA TODAY. "[That] makes zero sense because he had tagged me in over 40 tweets, which is over 10x as many tweets I mentioned him in.”

She continued: "I eventually unblocked him when someone brought to my attention that he had tagged me in 30 more tweets in responses. And when I said I felt harassed, he continued to tweet things like this claiming that I was responding to him because 'I like him.' ”

When another Twitter user said Giles "likes" Bauer, the Indians' player responded by writing, "She conducts herself as someone who does but doesn’t know how to express it." Several other Twitter users sent direct messages to Giles.

“It has definitely ruined my last three days,” Giles said, per USA Today. “I have cried daily and called my family crying because the first 12-24 hours or so I was getting a lot of hate.”

Bauer addressed the other users who went after Giles following their exchange in his statement Thursday.

"I often defend myself against internet trolling, bullying and slander. My responses to fans are good-natured," Bauer wrote. "I do not encourage any of my fans, followers, or friends to attack, insult or harass anyone on any social media platform, or in real life. There is no room for that in the world."

Giles said she has not received any responses from the Indians or Twitter.

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Emily Caron
EMILY CARON

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