CWS finals opener postponed by rain

OMAHA, Neb. — Game 1 of the College World Series finals between Arkansas and Oregon State was postponed until Tuesday because of rain — the latest in a line of delays caused by the weather this year.

“In my 16 years of being involved with this championship, this has been the most challenging College World Series as it relates to inclement weather,” NCAA director of championships and alliances Randy Buhr said.

Rain fell most of the day Monday, and officials announced late in the afternoon that the game would be delayed. The decision to postpone came 90 minutes after the scheduled first pitch.

Arkansas (47-19) will start Blaine Knight (13-0) against Luke Heimlich (16-2) of Oregon State (53-11-1) on Tuesday.

Game 2 of the best-of-three finals is set for Wednesday, and, if necessary, Game 3 would be Thursday.

More than 4 inches of rain have fallen in Omaha since the start of the CWS on June 16.

The Texas-arkansas game on June 17 was interrupted for 2 hours, 49 minutes. There was a delay of 4:31 in the Washington-oregon State game on June 18. The start of the Texas Tech-arkansas game on June 20 was delayed 3½ hours.

Skies cleared over TD Ameritrade Park late Monday afternoon, but a line of rain was approaching Omaha from the southwest. That left the NCAA Baseball Committee, a meteorologist working for the NCAA and representatives of the teams, among others, to decide whether the game should start as scheduled.

“We made the right decision not starting it at 6 o’clock,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “The meteorologist said it was going to rain, and he nailed it.

“With a wet field and playing late and this being a championship, and the next two or three days looking really nice, I think it’s best we didn’t play tonight.”

Coaches were adamant they didn’t want the game to start if there were a chance it would have to be stopped after three or four innings, Buhr said.

If the game was going to be played, Buhr said, at least a three-hour window with no rain was necessary. The forecast, however, called for a chance of more rain later in the evening.