Hurricane leading Midland when rains came

HURRICANE -- Hurricane scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to open a 10-4 lead on Cabell Midland in the West Virginia Class AAA Region IV, Section 3 baseball tournament Friday night at Lola Meeks Memorial Field.

Then mother nature intervened again. Rain, which had started an inning earlier, picked up intensity. Add some lightning and the umpires halted play as Redskins players and coaches hustled to put the tarp over the pitcher's mound and home plate.

It didn't matter, as the infield quickly became a swamp and the umpires, after consulting with Hurricane and Cabell Midland, ruled the game was suspended. It will resume at 11 a.m. today at Cabell Midland's field, which has a tarp, with the Knights batting in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Cabell Midland needs to put together a rally to keep the game and its season going. Otherwise, Hurricane will advance to meet Section 4 winner Spring Valley next week in the regional semifinals.

Brett Barber started for Hurricane and pitched six innings. At the plate, he's 2-for-2 with a double and a solo home run. He also reached base twice by walks and once on an error.

Redskins catcher Thor Meeks also had two hits, one a two-run homer to left in the three-run fifth inning for the designated visitors. Billy Smith added an RBI single for what proved to be the go-ahead run.

Defensively, Hurricane had its problems as the Redskins committed six errors.

Jeremy Ash started for Cabell Midland and made it to the fifth inning. Brandon Adkins, Matt Hall and Dakota Nelson followed the left-hander to the mound.

Pat Stapleton and Jake Gaskins both knocked in a run for the Knights. In the bottom of the fifth, Cabell Midland had runners on second and third with two out, but Barber retired Hall on strikes to end the threat.

The suspension was the second time play was halted. Two batters into the top of the first inning, rain started coming down and the umpires called for the tarps. That delay lasted about eight minutes.