OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Weather woes hit this year’s College World Series for the first time Tuesday, with the afternoon elimination game between Louisville and Auburn suspended after four innings because of rain and the night game between Vanderbilt and Mississippi State postponed until Wednesday.
The NCAA announced Louisville-Auburn would resume at noon EDT. Vanderbilt-Mississippi State and the regularly scheduled Wednesday night game between Florida State and Texas Tech will follow.
Louisville led 4-1 when the TD Ameritrade Park grounds crew rolled out the tarp to cover the field.
Officials sometimes decide to delay or postpone CWS games when rain is imminent, as was the case Tuesday. NCAA director of championships and alliances Randy L. Buhr said after discussions with meteorologists and stakeholders, the thought was that there would be a big enough window of decent weather to get in a significant portion of the game, if not all of it.
“We got half of it in, so that was a positive,” Buhr said.
Another reason officials wanted to start the afternoon game: There could be more inclement weather later in the week, Buhr said. The forecast is favorable for Wednesday, but there are chances for rain Thursday and Friday. Had the forecast been clear for the rest of the week, Buhr said, it might have been decided to postpone both Tuesday games.
Rain began in the third inning, and umpires stopped the game briefly so the grounds crew could rake the pitcher’s mound to improve the footing for Auburn reliever Elliott Anderson.
Tyler Fitzgerald homered in the first inning for the No. 7 national seed Cardinals, and Auburn tied it in the second on an RBI groundout. Louisville converted a single, three walks and two errors into three runs in the fourth.
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