NORWICH, Conn. - The State College Spikes and Connecticut Tigers will have to wait until today to complete Thursday night's game at Dodd Stadium, as the contest was suspended due to weather in the top of the seventh inning with the score tied, 4-4. The two teams will resume the game at 6:05 p.m., with a seven-inning game to follow.
The game was halted one pitch after Chris Diaz singled home Samuel Gonzalez with the tying run for State College (21-16). With Alex Fuselier at the plate and an 0-1 count, the umpires pulled both teams off of the field due to lightning striking close to the stadium. After a 45-minute delay, the game was officially suspended.
The Spikes had taken a 3-0 lead in the game in the first inning. Tyler Gaffney led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch by Connecticut (16-21) starter Hua-Wei Lo. Gaffney then advanced to third on a groundout and scored on another wild pitch to give State College the first run of the game. D.J. Crumlich followed with a single and scored on Jacob Stallings's RBI double to extend the lead to two. Two batters later, Gonzalez produced the final run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to bring in Stallings.
The Tigers would respond, though, with a three-run inning of their own in the third. With two outs and a man on first, Jared Reaves and Danry Vasquez produced back-to-back singles to snap Connecticut's 11-inning scoreless streak and make it a 3-1 contest. After a stolen base put runners on second and third, Juaner Aguasvivas then brought them both in with a single to tie the game.
The threat of rain was a factor throughout the remainder of the night, as both teams sought to get the lead before the impending thunderstorms halted play. Connecticut looked to have taken the final lead of the evening in the fifth inning, when a suicide squeeze bunt placed by Devon Travis scored Jake Stewart to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead. However, Gonzalez tripled to start the seventh and crossed the plate just ahead of the lightning to force the game's suspension.
When the game resumes on Friday, the pitchers of record will be Pat Ludwig for State College and Hunter Scantling for Connecticut. Ludwig allowed the Tigers' fifth-inning run, which went unearned, on a total of four hits over two innings of work. The right-hander has also collected four strikeouts. Scantling came on for Connecticut in the sixth inning and has yielded a run on two hits while striking out two over an inning-plus.
State College starter Jason Creasy gave up three runs on five hits and a walk over four innings. Creasy added two strikeouts as well. Lo allowed three runs on four this and a walk while striking out one over five innings for the Tigers.
