Cosmos baseball game suspended by darkness

Burr and Burton coach Adam Provost has long been a proponent of starting April baseball games at 4 p.m. and his case got a little stronger on Monday when the Bulldogs' contest at Springfield had to be suspended by darkness in the top of the seventh.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100406/SPORTS/4060358                   # # # # Bulldogs lead Cosmos 15-9 as night falls  •  Rutland Herald  •  By POODY WALSH Herald Correspondent - Published: April 6, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD — Burr and Burton coach Adam Provost has long been a proponent of starting April baseball games at 4 p.m. and his case got a little stronger on Monday when the Bulldogs' contest at Springfield had to be suspended by darkness in the top of the seventh.  •  "This happened to us down here last year," said Provost, who added that it was difficult to get changes made. "It just makes so much sense to start these early season games earlier."  •  Burr and Burton had a 15-9 lead and the bases loaded with nobody out in the top of the seventh when base umpire George Lucia had trouble seeing the ball and conferred with home plate umpire Dick Long, and the decision to halt the game came shortly thereafter.  •  The game started at 4:30 p.m. and when it was called it was 7:20 with darkness coming on, nobody out and Springfield still to bat in the bottom of the inning, Lucia surmised that there was no way the game could be completed before total darkness.  •  "The ball just began to blend in with the brown surface, that's when I knew it wasn't safe," he said.  •  The game will be completed when Springfield goes to Burr and Burton on April 26.  •  It was the season opener for both teams and their pitching staffs were taxed as Springfield used four hurlers and the Bulldogs three.  •  While Springfield has another game on Friday at Hartford, Burr and Burton does not play again until hosting Rutland on April 16.  •  The game started out at a slick pace as Springfield hurler Derek Osborne and Burr and Burton's T. J. Oliver combined for 10 strikeouts in the first two innings.  •  "I thought it was going to something like a 2-1 game," Springfield coach Larry Partridge said.  •  However, it was anything but as both pitchers lost the plate and the hits started dropping in.  •  In the midst of a monster game was Burr and Burton sophomore Alex Richardson, who had two doubles and triple and six runs batted in. The only time he failed to reach, he hita towering fly ball to left. T. J. Oliver was also in the groove as he had three singles and three RBI.  •  Following Osborne to the hill for Springfield were Jeremy Currie, Billy Wheeler and Matt Mitchell. Alex Miskovsky and Eddie Lewicki followed Oliver to the mound for Burr and Burton.  •  Osborne struck out the side in the first inning, but in the second a walk and single by Joel Zoufaly preceded a two-run double by Richardson. In the third inning, with Currie now pitching for Springfield, Richardson tripled to right-center plating two more runs. In the fifth he doubled in two more with a scorching double inside the bag at third.  •  Burr Burton, which led at one time 5-0 and looked in command, found itself in a ball game as Springfield got two runs in the third and two more in the fourth to make it a 5-4 game. Brandon Boyle, who played golf last year, singled in a run in the third and drove in another in the fourth with a bases-loaded walk. And Boyle was not done.  •  After the Bulldogs had a big seven-run fifth to open the game up, Boyle had a two-run single in the bottom of the inning.  •  With Burr and Burton leading 15-9 in the top of the seventh, Lewicki singled and Miskovsky and Soufaly walked with nobody out. That is where the game will be picked up on April 26.  •