When a Rain Delay is a Blessing
April 27, 2010
The Pirates aren't the only baseball players having a rough time of it lately.
On Sunday, Canisius hosted Rider for the third game of their MAAC matchup. Canisius had swept the previous day's doubleheader, but at least Rider kept the first game close, pushing their opponents to 11 innings.
It wasn't so pretty in the final game. Going into the bottom of the seventh, Canisius led 8 to 2. Rider pitcher Jeff Giordano recorded only one out while giving up a walk, a single, and a triple, before he was pulled in favor of Tim Hogan.
Hogan entered the game with a runner on third, and his results went as follows:
- Walk (ball four was a wild pitch, scoring the runner from third).
- Hit batsman.
- Wild pitch (both runners advanced).
- Wild pitch (both runners advanced).
- Walk (on four pitches).
- Wild pitch (both runners advanced).
Hogan threw 12 pitches, more of them wild pitches than strikes.
By this time, the rain had started to fall. I like to think that the Rider pitching coach took a very, very leisurely visit to the mound, giving the weather every chance to take a turn for the worse. Indeed it did, and after a rain delay was called, the game never resumed.
There's no universally-applied mercy rule in college baseball. But it looks like a higher power is willing to step in from time to time.