Weather Rains on Local High School Baseball Season

This dreary April weather has left many of us yearning for sunshine. 

The high school baseball teams around town are no different. 

Practicing in a gym is not fun. A ground ball can take an unnatural bounce and hop up into your face, or an overthrow can easily sail through a backboard.

Here’s what some local high coaches had to say about the weather and the hectic rescheduling process, which will surely make for lots of interesting league play to close out the season.

“It’s hard to get the boys into a rhythm,” coach Clint Rodger said. “We have done every drill imaginable in the gym. The boys are sick of it, and the coaches are sick of it.”

The Cougars are 7-3 overall, 3-1 league, after losing to Rochester on Tuesday. They have canceled or rescheduled 13 games.

“This is the worst the weather has been in the 12 years I’ve been coaching,” Rodger said.

Rodger’s main message to the players is to not get upset at the weather but to focus about things they can control, such as the team’s daily and weekly preparation.

“We have not been outside on our field more than two days in a row,” Adams coach Jeff Hall said.  “Our field does not drain well, and the outfield is a lake right now.”

The Highlanders hosted games against De La Salle and Avondale in these swamplike conditions.

“Once these rainouts are rescheduled, we’ll probably have to play 4-5 league games a week from here on out,” Hall said.

Hall explained why rainouts could make league play very interesting.

“I like our pitching depth,” Hall said. “The league championship may be decided by everyone’s No. 5, 6 and 7 pitchers and not their No. 1 or 2.”

Hall, whose team is 4-4, looked on the bright side: “Once we do get to play, the weather should be in the 50s or warmer every game.”

“Practicing inside is difficult,” said coach Eric Magiera. “At the beginning of the year, we do a lot of drill work before we can get outdoors. At this point, though, we need to run situations that we can’t do indoors.”

“It’s difficult to carry any momentum when we have so much time in between games,” said Magiera, whose team is 6-4 overall and  2-1 in league play.

Magiera explains it’s difficult to reschedule games with only one field. 

The varsity team plays league games every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from here on. The freshman team plays Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving little room to maneuver.