Baseball to finish Clash at Comerica in Mount Pleasant
Baseball will have to wait 28 days before it can finish its game against Michigan State, which began Wednesday night at Comerica Park in Detroit.
Heavy rainfall delayed first pitch about 30 minutes. Once play finally got underway, things were moving swiftly until the rain returned around 8 p.m., forcing the game to be suspended until May 14 when MSU is scheduled to play CMU at Theunissen Stadium.
The game will pick up right where Wednesday’s game at Comerica Park was suspended, with MSU leading the Chippewas 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth. CMU will have no outs and men on first and second.
“We knew from 5:30 to 6:30 we’re going to have a little storm, so we delayed the game a bit,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “When the lightning hit, we had to suspend play. “
Under NCAA rules, play cannot resume until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike.
The teams waited for about 51 minutes before both Jaksa and MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. agreed that it wasn’t in the best interests of their teams to continue playing.
“We both agreed that it wasn’t worth it to send the guys out there again, play in the rain, just to get two more innings in,” Jaksa said. “It wouldn’t have made a lot of sense. If we had to stop and pull the guys off over and over again, you’re burning all your arms.”
Even if the teams would have gotten through the fifth inning, the cut-off for an official game, both agreed that the game would be suspended and completed as a full, nine-inning game.
“We had already decided it was going to be a suspended game,” Jaksa said. “We wanted to play the nine innings. We just felt that, since they’re coming to our place, we could treat it like a three-game series. Both teams are out of school on May 14, so it’s easy to start game one a little earlier.”
Wednesday’s rainout was the third-straight year that MSU and CMU have played at Comerica Park, the home of the Detroit Tigers.
