Baseball: Rain postpones St. Edward's regional championship game

OREGON - The rain did not go away so St. Edward has to come back another day.

Thunder halted the Class 2A Oregon regional baseball final between No. 4 St. Edward and No. 1 Byron after four innings with the score tied 1-1.

A steady rain that lasted more than an hour caused puddling on the infield and forced officials to suspend. The game will resume Monday at 4:30 p.m.

"We'll come back out to Oregon on Monday and see if we can't win a three-inning game," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "I like our chances."

St. Edward (16-16) grabbed a 1-0, first-inning lead. Leadoff man Mike Lopez singled, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on a Joe Sacco sacrifice fly.

Byron (16-11) tied the game in the bottom of the third with an unearned run against Lopez. Austin Buser reached base on a one-out infield error and Chase Binkley walked. Ben Schultz then lined a single up the middle to score Buser from second.

Lopez was able to stop the bleeding. The senior right-hander got Byron cleanup hitter Tyler Elsbury to line out to center field for the second out. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Lopez struck out Colton Ingram to end the threat.

"They had the momentum at the beginning of the inning but once I had the bases loaded I came back, pounded the zone and took the momentum back," Lopez said.

The Green Wave had two aboard with one in the fourth inning, but a popped up bunt led to an inning-ending double play for Byron pitcher Cameron Miller.

Miller held the Wave to an earned run on 2 hits and a walk. He struck out 4 in 4 innings.

Lopez allowed 3 hits, walked a pair and struck out four.

"I thought he was learning the strike zone early and then taking advantage of what the umpire was giving, kind of inside-outside," Rolando said. "He was looking strong. He gave us what we needed."

Lopez will not pitch on Monday due to pitch-count restrictions, Rolando said. However, Drew Tilche, will be available to throw against Byron when the game resumes.

Tilche got a no-decision last Wednesday in a 5-4 regional semifinal victory over West Carroll. He allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits, walked 5 and struck out 12 over 7 ⅓ innings.