Despite storm, NCAA tries for games Saturday night at Miami baseball Coral Gables Regional
By Saturday morning, college baseball fans should have had a better idea of who might survive and advance in the first round of the NCAA Division I College Baseball Tournament’s Coral Gables Regional, hosted by the Miami Hurricanes and including Canisius College, Ole Miss and Arizona.
But despite ferocious rain and wind among a tropical storm that proved otherwise, the NCAA wanted those games played Saturday night.
The NCAA announced Saturday morning that it had “pushed back” to later Saturday the Coral Gables Regional at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
The regional’s first game between No. 6 national seed/No. 1 regional seed Miami (39-18) and No. 4 regional seed Canisius (29-23) was rescheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+). That game originally was scheduled for noon Friday and then rescheduled for 10 a.m. Friday and again for noon Saturday.
By 2 p.m. the grounds crew had removed the tarp and it appeared the game would be played.
The regional’s second game between No. 2 regional seed Arizona (37-23) and No. 3 regional seed Ole Miss (32-22) was set to begin 55 minutes after (ESPN+) Miami’s opener ends Saturday night.
Keep in mind that the NCAA prohibits tournament games from starting after 11 p.m., but if they start earlier, they can be played in full.
Mark Light gates were opened at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and the stands were not to be cleared between games.
If the rain continues, NCAA officials would do their best to get all the games in by Tuesday at the latest, as the next round of the tournament begins on Friday. The National Weather Service in Miami calls for tropical storm conditions expected today with 30-plus-mile-an-hour wind gusts.
Rain could continue this evening, with a “slight chance of thunderstorms through the night” and “rain likely after midnight,’’ according to the National Weather Service.
The storm already has dumped several inches throughout South Florida, with flooding.
Unlike the regular season, when the home team can make a decision on postponements or delays before the game starts, the NCAA decides on tournament postponements. There are a minimum of two NCAA site representatives at each of the 16 host sites that work in conjunction with the NCAA office to make last-minute scheduling changes. Those reps are sent from the NCAA and not affiliated with host schools.
The Coral Gables tournament is one of 16 double-elimination, four-team weekend regionals around the country that serve as the opening round of the national tournament. The 16 winners advance to the two-team, best-of-three-game super regional round June 10-12 at eight sites, which would include Coral Gables should the Hurricanes win their regional. The eight super regional winners advance to the College World Series that begins June 17 in Omaha, Nebraska.
This story was originally published June 4, 2022 at 9:42 AM.
