PITTSBURGH - Mother Nature must not want Pittsburgh and Penn State to play.
What was scheduled to be a midweek game that started at 4 p.m., was delayed 25 minutes after the first inning followed by 1.5 innings of baseball before the already dark clouds re-burst with rain. It is the third time this month that a Pitt-Penn State game has been canceled, with the other two cancellations on April 7 and 14 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
"We needed to work," Penn State coach Robbie Wine said. "We wanted to get guys to the mound, we wanted to get some at-bats. Guys are working on some things. Trying to get back on track, you need to be on the field. Hopefully we'll be able to get [today's] game in."
Weather.com predicts a low-50 degree night tonight with just a 20 percent chance of rain.
Penn State faces LaSalle at 6:35 tonight at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Mike Franklin is expected to start for the Nittany Lions while Christian Schulz will go for the Explorers. The Lions will look to snap a five-game losing streak, which they tried to Tuesday night at Trees Field in Oakland.
When the game was canceled in between the top and bottom half of the third inning, the score was tied at 1. Rick Marlin scored the only run for the Lions after he was balked home by Panther pitcher Matt Iannazzo.
In just two innings of work, freshman pitcher Ryan Ignas was sharp. He allowed just one hit and one run - which scored after Pitt's Frank Mercurio stole second, the throw from catcher Bobby Jacobs went down to second, which resulted in Chris Sedon, the runner on third, scoring.
Ignas struck out three batters in his two innings of work, including a strikeout of Pitt catcher Kevan Smith, who started three games as the Panthers quarterback in 2007.
"For the first two innings, I was just trying to keep the ball down, just relying on my movement on my two-seam [fastball] to get guys out," Ignas said. "I mean, I walked the third hitter and he got around and scored but that's things you have to deal with and get better with."
When Ignas was about to go out to the mound for the bottom of the third inning, an orange ATV - identical to those found on campus - drove onto the field and Pitt players grabbed tarps out of the trunk and placed them on the five parts of the AstroTurf infield which had dirt on it. As the teams waited for the rain to stop, Penn State sat in its dugout while four Pitt players went outside of the dugout and danced to the Bee Gee's Stayin' Alive.
