6/10/2023 baseball Edit

LSU's "rainless" delay postpones Saturday's Super Regional start by 5 hours

LSU's Alex Box Stadium received no rain during a 5-hour postponement of Saturday's NCAA Super Regional opener between LSU and Kentucky. (Ron Higgins/Tiger Details)

Ron Higgins • Death Valley Insider

Columnist

Welcome to the first rainless delay in LSU baseball history.

Thirty-five minutes after the 2 p.m. Saturday start of the Tigers’ Super Regional opener vs. Kentucky in Alex Box Stadium under sunny clear skies, it was announced the game would start at 7:06 p.m. because of a perceived threat of rain and lightning.,

As of 3:30 p.m., no rainfall had been recorded in Baton Rouge. Forecasts for the rest of the day and night call for 15 percent chance of rain. The announcement to the game being delayed was booed by the LSU crowd that was already in their seats.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson, who rarely had a rain delay when he coached Arizona for six seasons through the 2021 season, said Friday he wanted Saturday’s game started in a time frame in which the game could be completed with no rain delay.

Johnson was trying to avoid having his staff pitching ace Paul Skenes start a game that would be delayed by weather with Skenes not returning after the rain delay.

Last weekend, LSU’s second Super Regional game on Saturday vs. Oregon State because of a lightning delay was pushed until Sunday.

On Sunday, there was a 3½-hour delay as LSU came to bat in the bottom of the third. Johnson pulled Tigers’ starting pitcher Ty Floyd during the delay and inserted Thatcher Hurd. He delivered a career-high 12 strikeouts in five innings in a 6-5 LSU win.

“I was upset of course but I understood how it happens,” Floyd said earlier this week of being pulled from the game. “I was prepared to get back out there in case it was a short, short break. Realistically, 30 minutes to an hour is the longest than you can safely wait, especially after how many pitches you throw.”

Johnson said Friday there were officials from the NCAA, LSU and Kentucky involved in decisions when to start games because of projected weather delays.

“There’s enough smart people that will make really good decisions,” Johnson said. (Last) Monday (when LSU played Oregon State in the finals), there was no chance (according to weather forecasts) we were going to play and we completed all nine innings.

“It’s weather in South Louisiana in June. I had no idea about it when I got here.”

Gates re-opened at 5:30 p.m. Fans were required to have their tickets re-scanned in order to be admitted into the stadium, even if the tickets were scanned earlier in the day.