The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Rain forces schedule changes at Amherst Summer Classic
Rain and possible thunderstorms that rolled from the west put the third day of the Amherst Summer Classic on July 27 in jeopardy.
Amherst’s home doubleheader against Avon (July 28 at 3:30 p.m.) and Keystone (July 29 at 5:30 p.m.) along with Midview at Elyria (July 29 at 5:30 p.m.) will take place on later dates after being suspended in the afternoon.
“I knew that (July 27) was the only chance we had for rain. I was keeping an eye on the radar. I looked at today’s games and had a revised schedule in mind if the games got rained out,” said Amherst coach Matt Rositano. “Once everything did get rained out today, I texted all of the coaches and made sure that the revised schedule was all good with them. They all said that they were good and we are going with the revised schedule.”
The only game that saw action was the Avon Eagles and Amherst Gold with the first pitch scheduled at 2 p.m. The game was suspended after two innings. It is set to resume with Avon’s additional hitter Sam Spike facing a 2-ball, 1-strike count with no outs and runners on second and third base.
Avon led Amherst Gold, 2-0, thanks to a two-run homer from Ethan Falkinburg in the top of the second as the rain began to pick up from sprinkling in the first inning.
Amherst’s starting pitcher and incoming freshman Harrison Schneider had five strikeouts over the two innings pitched with two hits and one walk.
Rositano posted the times for the tournament’s game times on Twitter following the postponement of the games.
Eagles starting pitcher Ian Cain was on a roll at the start, striking out four of the six Amherst batters he faced. The Comets’ only hit came from shortstop Cam Rios from their opening at-bat.
The good thing about playing at Amherst’s Sliman’s Diamond is that it soaks up water and drains well. The field is a twotime winner of the Northeast Ohio Baseball Field of the Year.
“We will have no problem getting that field ready for (July 28) and it will probably won’t take that much work. That thing will suck up water and we will be good,” said Rositano.
According to Rositano, they are used to having to deal with a wet field because of how much it rained during the 2022 spring baseball season.
“It seemed like it rained every day in the (past) spring. But that field sucks up so much water and our grounds crew guys are fantastic,” he said. “Unless it was pouring at game time, we had home games. Our varsity (team) played 29 games and we had 19 home games. We also had a lot of (junior varsity) games switched from road to home (along with the freshman team, too).”