Georgia Tech’s opening game in its NCAA baseball regional was rained out without much rain.
After an early-afternoon storm pushed back the original 4 p.m. Eastern start time, the Yellow Jackets’ game against Washington was delayed indefinitely and finally postponed around 7:15 p.m. until Saturday afternoon. For most of the delay, the sun shined with brief light drizzles. The Jackets waited it out in the dugout, some players playing catch in front of it.
“Just one of those deals where they didn’t feel like there was any window to get the game in,” Tech coach Danny Hall said. “And they still feel like there’s more weather coming tonight, so we’ll just push it to (Saturday).”
Tech, the No. 3 seed, will play No. 2-seed Washington at 2 p.m. (broadcast online on ESPN3). No. 1-seed Ole Miss and No. 4-seed Jacksonville State, which were scheduled to play Friday night at 8 p.m., will play at 6 p.m. There are three games scheduled for Sunday — at noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The regional championship will be played at 3 p.m. Monday, with a second game following at 8 p.m. if necessary.
While the rain largely held off before the delay, Hall said the concern was “to where you start a game and you can’t finish it and all of the sudden, your starting pitcher has thrown three or four innings and can’t pitch anymore. I think it’s probably a good decision for everybody, but it’s a frustrating day to get over here and not get a chance to play.”
Weather has twice fouled up Tech’s plans in Oxford. The ACC champions were not allowed to practice Thursday on Swayze Field because of the rain, and then Friday they were just starting to take pregame practice when the rains began.
More rain could challenge Saturday’s scheduling. On Friday night, the Weather Channel website forecast scattered thunderstorms with a 60 percent chance of rain for Saturday.
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