Hi all.  Here’s how I see baseball on this Tuesday, June 19.

Another lengthy rain delay caused a rare postponement setting up a triple-header in the College World Series for the first time in 6 years.  Oregon State and Washington were going at it hammer and tongs yesterday before the rain delay happened.  Washington had jumped out to  a 3-0 lead as OSU continued to play as poorly as it did Saturday against North Carolina.  Then the Beavers’ bats came to life.  They battled back and took a 4-3 lead.  The Huskies answered back and grabbed a 5-4 advantage as the visiting 6th inning began.  The Beavers loaded the bases, and that’s when the game was halted.  At first it seemed like another non-rain delay like the one on Sunday that held up play for 3 hours.  But within moments after the game was stopped it began raining.  This time it took more than 4 and a half hours  before the game could resume.  When it did the Beavers picked up where they left off. A bases-loaded walk tied the game and a run-scoring double gave Oregon State a lead they would keep.    They had a 6-5 lead in the 7th when Kyle Nobach unloaded a 3-run home run, and the Beavers were off to the races. The rain delay had brought about a wind shift and a temperature drop of 20 degrees, and suddenly home runs were possible at the oversized stadium.  Tyler Malone unloaded another bomb to lead off the 8th in which the Huskies would give up 5 runs,  accounting for the 14–5 final score. Oregon State now has 50 wins for the season and will play Wednesday against the loser of this morning’s North Carolina-Mississippi State game.  That game should have been played last night, but with the first game not ending until almost 10 PM Eastern, the NCAA ruled the winner’s bracket game should be played this morning.

The unusual circumstances necessitate a triple-header in Omaha, weather permitting of course. In the two scheduled games, Florida will play Texas in an elimination game.  Texas Tech and Arkansas will then take the field in a winner’s bracket contest somewhere around 8 PM Eastern if all goes according to Hoyle, but when does that happen? I well recall a regional tournament back in 1988 where the first game went 19 innings, knocking the rest of the schedule into a cocked hat.  The funniest thing about that tournament was, 5 years later I would begin working at the ball park where that 19-inning game occurred.

The major leagues continue their season-long march.  The Royals traded relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera to the Nationals for 3 kids. With the Royals heading south, it made sense to unload the 29-year-old Dominican and get any price they could.  The Nats hope he can be the closer for them that he was for the Royals since 2016.  In 2015, he was the 7th-inning man behind Wade Davis and Greg Holland. Herrera took part in both the 2014 and 2015 World Series. As of now, the Nats and Phillies are tied, 3.5 games behind the Braves.  The Nats hope the acquisition of Holland will allow them to distance themselves from the Phillies and set their sites on the upstart Braves. A year ago the Phillies lost 96 games and the Braves lost 90.  The Nats have to think their foes won’t hold together through the summer.