CEDARVILLE — Just when things looked as if host Cedarville was set to run away with Friday’s April 28 Ohio Heritage Conference high school baseball game with rival Greeneview, the Rams’ bats came to life.
And just when the Rams started to mount a comeback, the rains came falling down.
Soggy Cedarville led the rain-drenched Rams, 6-3, in the sixth inning when the game was called for lightning and then eventually rain and impending darkness, doom and despair.
Okay, just rain and darkness.
Cedarville coach Andy Pauling and two of his coaches were under a CHS overhang conferring with one of the game umpires during the rain delay. Pauling wanted to make sure whether the regularly scheduled seven-inning game could be called after five and a half innings of play, but according to the rule book, it appeared that the game had to continue as long as the trailing team had scored a run in the game.
“We’re not calling this one,” Pauling said. “That would be like bad weather stopping an Ohio State-Michigan football game and the losing team choosing not to play. I’m sure Greeneview feels the same way. We’ll finish this one on a day when we’re both not playing anybody else.”
Meanwhile, Greeneview coach Andy Vinson was across the way getting his players to clen up the visitor’s dugout and get on the team bus. With his team just starting to catch fire offensively, he wasn’t conceding anything either.
“It’s a suspended game, right now,” he said. “I told my players and I told the umpires, I wish we wouldn’t have waited until the sixth inning to start hitting. But we did. We finally started waking up and showing some life … and then weather happened.
“We have open dates on Wednesday (May 3), Friday (May 5), and even Saturday, if they’d want to play then. We’ll work something out, I’m sure,” he said.
Cedarville (6-14, 2-9 OHC) had scored the game’s first two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Andrew Pollander reached base with a single into center field, then Sam Allex got on board on an infield throwing error. Mason Cross then singled to center to score Pollander and Allex.
The Indians took advantage of a couple Ram miscues in the fifth inning to extend the lead. Cedarville scored four times in the inning, twice when one errant pick-off throw wound up in right field; then once more when another pick-off throw wound up in left field.
After Cedarville starting pitcher Keith Gnau had limited the Rams (1-14, 1-8 OHC) to one hit through the game’s first five innings of play, the Greeneview batters started making contact. Taylor Stinson, Jack Nix and Jon Brakeall each had scored, and Ian Tamplin was perched on third base, with Bryce Wilson on first with nobody out, when play was suspended at 6:44 p.m. due to lightning.
Six minutes later, with continuous lightning and the rain getting heavier, the umpires suspended play.
Pauling said a game make-up date will be posted on the Cedarville High School website as soon as the two schools find a common date to play.
According to the OHC website (ohcsports.com), Cedarville has an 11 a.m. nonleague game scheduled Saturday, April 29 at home against Xenia Legacy Christian, but more rain is in the weather forecast. Also according to the site, Greeneview’s next game is set for 5 p.m. Monday May 1 when they play at Greenon.
