Rain still playing havoc with SWAC tournament

• By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 17, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:20 a.m.

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Rain hampered the Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament for the third straight day. And like the tattered American flag beyond center field, the old, storm-battered bracket has been replaced with a new one.

Unable to use two fields to play six games tournament games Friday because of morning rain, only three games were played, all at Southern’s Lee-Hines Field.

The backlog forced the bracket times to change yet again and will push the championship game to 1 p.m. Monday. The bracket finals (and any second games, if necessary) will be Sunday.

Western Division champion Southern will play two-time defending SWAC champion Prairie View at noon today as the first of three games scheduled. That game, had there not been three days of rain, was originally set for 7 p.m. on Thursday.

“I have to applaud the conference,” Southern coach Roger Cador said. “They were willing to make some strong decisions about extending the tournament for one day.”

The brackets are double-elimination, while the championship game is a single, winner-take-all event. Early Friday, Jackson State eliminated Grambling 7-4 and Alcorn State dispatched Alabama State 15-4 in a game shortened to eight innings by the mercy rule.

Late Friday, Texas Southern, the No. 4 seed from the Western Division, continued its amazing run.

A 13-3 win over Mississippi Valley State, shortened to seven innings, put TSU into the bracket final Sunday. After losing 22 of 26 games, TSU has won four straight, including its first two in the tournament.

“You never know with rain,” said SWAC tournament co-director Cory Lima, who began the day at Pete Goldsby Field, which proved to be unplayable. “You make adjustments as you go. … With three days of rain, we’ve made pretty good adjustments.”

Southern (27-16) and PV (22-24) have won the last three SWAC titles and met in the championship game in 2007 and ’05. The game will be televised by KPBN (Cox Cable Ch. 113).

TSU 13, VALLEY 3 (7 INNINGS): David Arredondo (1-4) struck out five in a complete game.

“It seems like we’re finally coming into our own,” TSU coach Candy Robinson said. “We always could hit the ball all year. It’s just that we’re getting some good pitching now.”

Deshaun Dilworth, who opened the game with a triple to start a four-run first inning, was 5-for-6 with three runs, two RBIs and three stolen bases and TSU (14-32) totaled 10 runs with two outs.