NUTTER FORT, W.Va. — Robert C. Byrd and Hampshire battled the elements for an hour of play Friday night at Frank Loria Memorial Field in a winner-take-all matchup for the right to advance to the state tournament out of Class AAA Region II.
Mother Nature eventually ruled out.
The contest was suspended in the top of the third inning following a delay of longer than 1 hour with the Eagles in front, 4-1. The two teams will attempt to complete the game Monday at a time and location to be determined. It will resume either on the campus of RCB or back at nearby Frank Loria Field.
“We wanted to play,” Hampshire coach Ken Maiers said. “Now they get their No. 1 [pitcher Xavier Carvelli] back the way the pitching works. They’ll be able to make a pitching change right away and get their No. 1 back, but it also gives us two of our guys back, too. I guess it’s going to be best on best and we’ll see how it works out.”
What was completed Friday was played in a steady rainfall that picked up in a big way throughout the bottom of the second and top of the third innings.
With the Trojans’ Landon Whitace in the batter’s box and two on in the top of the third, the rain intensified to the point the umpires took both teams off the field at 7:02 p.m. While the rain lessened some throughout the delay, it picked up again closer to 8 p.m., and with a pair of puddles having formed near second base, the decision was made to suspend the matchup until next week.
“As an infielder, once the ball comes off the bat, fielding it and throwing over to first is the hardest part,” Eagles’ coach Derek Bowen said. “A pitcher can kind of cover it up and wipe it off, but when you get that ball off the wet turf, it’s hard to get a grip on it. That’s the tricky part.”
One night after a 7-5 loss to Hampshire forced the decisive contest, RCB (21-10) struck for three first-inning runs on three hits, including Ashton Shaffer’s run-scoring single, while he later scored on a wild pitch and Anderson Levake drove in the third run on a groundout to second base.
Levake, the Eagles’ starting pitcher, escaped a bases loaded jam with no outs in Hampshire’s half of the first, then worked around two walks in the second to prevent the Trojans (17-11) from scoring.
RCB made it 4-0 in the home half of the second when Landon Frazier singled to right-center to plate Reed Lowther, who had led off with a single.
Hampshire starting pitcher Zeke McDonald was relieved by Channing Wilt after Lowther led off the second with a single.
However, the Trojans garnered momentum in the top of the third starting with a leadoff single from Brayden Holt. Chris Wood followed with a walk — Levake’s fourth issues across the first 12 batters he faced — and Mason Wolford then drove in the Trojans’ first run with a single to center that marked the final at bat before the suspension.
The Eagles have five hits to the Trojans’ three up to this point.
“We just have to keep grinding,” Bowen said. “I was proud of the way we came out and scored runs early, but we have to get the momentum back. They have two runners on, so we have to stop them there.”