Baseball: Weather doesn't let Larkin, Geneva finish
Mother Nature's apparent grudge against the Larkin-Geneva baseball series continues.
The opener of the 3-game Upstate Eight River series set finally got underway in Geneva Friday.
The first pitch - thrown in a cold, steady rain, of course - came 10 days after the originally scheduled contest was canceled, six days after the makeup was bagged and four days after the teams were forced to nix the twice-rescheduled game.
The fourth time wasn't exactly the charm either.
Played in 45-degree weather with intermittent rain that began during warmups, Larkin led the 8-5 with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning when the umpires suspended the game due to poor visibility from thick overcast and diminishing light.
"It's just Illinois baseball, I guess," Vikings third baseman Nick Black said.
"It's been a bit rough for us against Geneva. It's like the baseball gods don't want us to play," Larkin starting pitcher Cy Kerber said. "We'll get it in, we'll get it in."
Larkin (5-3, 2-1) and Geneva (2-6-1, 0-2-1) will pick up where they left off when they reconvene. The teams are slated to play Game 2 of the series next Friday at Geneva. The finale is set for April 27.
"We're going to be chasing these games into July, I think," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said.
The game was competitive. Larkin jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when junior Max Anderson laced a two-out double on an 0-2 pitch from Geneva senior right-hander Tyler Venditti to the left-center field fence.
"Just went away with it," said Anderson, who went 2-for-2 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. "It was nice to get that after going 0 for 2 (Thursday)."
Geneva got a run back on a first-inning passed ball. Sean Baumgartner gave the Vikings their only lead in the second. The senior's one-out single scored Black and Luke Fisher to put his team ahead 3-2.
Larkin bounced back with a 4-run fourth inning. Anderson scored from third base on the first of 2 throwing errors in the inning by the Geneva catcher to forge a 3-3 tie. Senior Kyle Mounivong capped the rally by scoring on a passed ball for a 6-3 lead.
Anderson's fifth-inning double drove in Kerber to make it 7-3. Anderson later scored on another passed ball. In fact, 8 of the game's 13 combined runs resulted from wild pitches or passed balls.
"It was a really tough day to pitch," said Kerber, normally Larkin's starting catcher. "I mean, the fastball was it. They did a good job of putting in new baseballs, but curveball, slider, that was kind of iffy just gripping the baseball."