The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Loss of MAC stings
Crushers’ Kramig says if conference reinstates tournament, Avon is ‘at the top of their list’
For the past eight years, Crushers Stadium has been home to the Mid-American Conference baseball tournament.
That streak will end this year.
On May 12, the MAC announced a plethora of changes for athletics, one of which being the cancellation of the conference’s postseason baseball tournament.
“The MAC called us a few weeks ago and said that (canceling the tournament) was a distinct possibility,” Lake Erie Crushers president Tom Kramig said. “They said the whole conference is having financial issues because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and they were looking for ways to reduce expenses. It’s a great event we have out here every year, and we really look forward to it. But I understand the situation that colleges are dealing with.”
Additionally, the MAC canceled conference tournaments in field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse and softball, with the champion being determined by the first-place team at the end of the season.
The baseball tournament is usually held in the last two weeks of May and featured the top six teams from the conference playing for a spot in the NCAA tournament.
In addition to holding the MAC tournament and being the home field for the Lake Erie Crushers, Crushers stadium also hosts games for Notre Dame College, Lorain County Community College and high school games.
“There’s really not a whole lot we can do (about filling those dates) at the moment since everything’s shut down,” Kramig said. We’ve had inquiries about that time frame in the past, but there may not be a whole lot of changes out here aside from us not hosting the MAC Tournament.”
On April 1, the Frontier League announced it had postponed the start of their season due to the coronavirus pandemic. While Kramig is holding out hope that there are games played at Crushers stadium this season, he also knows that there’s a chance that the summer could come and go without baseball in Lorain County.
“Our season is suspended indefinitely,” Kramig said. “We’re still holding out hope that we might be able to play in July or August, but we’re also very aware of the possibility that we might not play at all.”
If Crushers Stadium does open, Kramig and his team are working to make sure that they’ll be operating within whatever social distancing guidelines are required.
“We’ve built some contingency plans around social distancing but it’s really hard to plan anything at the moment,” he said. “There are some scenarios where you can only hand out a certain number of tickets so, that way, people have room to space out. Our food and beverage director is trying to figure out how to handle concessions. But until you know what the situation is when you open the doors, then I don’t think anyone really knows.”
If the tournament is brought back sometime in the future, Kramig said that Crushers Stadium would be one of the first venues the MAC would consider holding it at.
“They loved playing here,” he said. “The event works really well here, and it’s centrally located for the MAC schools. They said that when the time comes that they bring that event back, we’re absolutely at the top of their list.”
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