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Tennessee and Auburn are trying to play some baseball, but the incessant rains in Knoxville just won’t let them.
Mere seconds after Dalton Bargo belted a tying homer in the bottom of the ninth to rescue the Volunteers from a 4-3 deficit, the heavens opened and a downpour began on Saturday. That sent Auburn and Tennessee into their 4th weather delay of the weekend alone, with the latest one coming in the 10th inning as the SEC behemoths try to slog through this key weekend series.
The hope was to get Game 2 of the series in on Saturday, but like the series opener, Game 2 will be played on 2 different days. That’s because there was no letup in the rain and Game 2 of the series was suspended until Sunday. It will resume at 1 p.m. ET in the top of the 10th inning with the teams tied at 4-4, thanks to Bargo.
Game 3 of this adventure of a series is slated to begin approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2 on Sunday. Of course, that’s if Mother Nature will finally cooperate.
A rain-soaked Saturday in Knoxville followed an equally wet Friday night, when the Tigers and Vols barely got any baseball in. Friday night’s series opener was suspended in the bottom of the 1st inning and was continued on Saturday, when Tennessee eventually lost 6-1 to Auburn once the game was finally completed.
Ike Irish belted a 2-run homer in the top of the first on Friday night to give Auburn a quick 2-0 lead before the umpires decided to halt play because of rain. Play was resumed on Saturday morning, when the Tigers extended their lead from Friday with runs in the 3rd and 6th innings.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
