By Kyle Roberts
With only inning to play Wednesday night, Mother Nature decided she wanted to intervene.
Due to continuous lightning delays that sent the Tech vs. Middle Tennessee game into a weather delay heading into the top of the ninth inning, the Bulldogs and Blue Raiders will resume Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
Tech leads 8-2 through eight innings, thanks in large part to freshman Grant Comeaux going 4-for-4 from the plate with a home run and three RBI’s.
Louisiana Tech head coach Lane Burroughs said following the decision to resume Thursday morning that the plan is to bring closer Ethan Bates in to try to get the last three outs.
“This is weird. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had to deal with this,” Burroughs said. “The good thing is both Middle Tennessee and us, win or lose, will both get a day off. I hate it for our fans because we’re not playing again until Friday, but I don’t think it changes our mind set. It’s just a little different; a little weird.
“But we talk about adapting and adjusting. This is the conference tournament — college baseball at its finest. There’s going to be delays. There’s going to be rain. It’s part of the gig. I feel for the people who are having to put the brackets together and do all that work, because that’s the hard part.”
Burroughs added that another positive from the delay is that senior pitcher Sam Brodersen will get a day off after pitching two innings in relief on Wednesday.
The winner of Tech and Middle Tennessee will play Friday at 12:30 p.m., while the loser will play the 9 a.m. game that morning.
Thursday’s schedule now includes:
(Game 3) 9 a.m. – Tech vs. Middle Tennessee (resumption of game with Tech leading 8-2 in top 9)
(Game 4) 11:05 a.m. – Liberty vs. Sam Houston State
(Game 5) 2:35 p.m. – WKU vs. NMSU
(Game 6) 6:05 p.m. – Dallas Baptist vs. FIU
Friday Schedule
(Game 7) 9 a.m. Loser of Tech-MT vs. loser of Liberty-Sam Houston
(Game 8) 12:30 p.m. Winner of Tech-MT vs. winner of Liberty-Sam Houston
(Game 9) 4 p.m. Winner of WKU-NMSU vs. loser of Dallas Baptist-FIU
(Game 10) 7:30 p.m. Winner of 7 vs. Loser of Game 8
