ALTON – Heavy rain played havoc with the opening day of the 2015 American Legion Great Lakes Regional baseball tournament Wednesday, forcing the postponement of the Metro East Bears' opening-round contest against Rockport, Ind.
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The Bears' game has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, the home of the Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies.
Rain also played a role in the game that was to precede the Bears' clash between Elgin, Ill,, and Plover, Wis.; the game was about to start at 5 p.m. when heavy rains struck Gordon Moore Park/Lloyd Hopkins Field, forcing a two-and-a-half hour delay. Elgin defeated Plover 2-1 in 11 innings.
“It's disappointing that we couldn't get to play,” said Bears manager Ken Schaake. “Obviously, there's nothing you can do about the weather, but our kids were all ready to go.
“Hopefully we won't have more problems with the weather the rest of the way.”
“We had great weather yesterday, but today, it was kind of a miracle we got three games in,” said Bears general manager and tournament director Dennis Sharp. “We did everything we could to keep the field in playable condition; that's our commitment and our responsibility. We'll do all we can to keep the tournament going on schedule.”
In Wednesday's other two games, Midland, Mich., rallied to defeat Paducah, Ky., 11-7, while Madison, Wis., downed Troy, Ohio, 7-3 to advance in the winner's bracket.
Thursday’s revised schedule following the Bears-Rockport game looks like this: Paducah will take on Plover at 1 p.m. in an elimination game at GCS Ballpark; Troy will meet the Metro East-Rockport loser in an elimination game at 4 p.m. at Lloyd Hopkins Field; Midland will meet Elgin at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Hopkins Field; and the Metro-East-Rockport winner will play Madison at 10 p.m. at Lloyd Hopkins Field.
More information on the games and updated schedules can be found at www.legion.org/baseball
