Stetson and Florida were scheduled to play a baseball game last night. Chances are this is the first you're hearing of it. And had the game gone on as planned, chances are you still would have heard nothing about it.
Instead, rain halted play in the fifth inning -- when Stetson happened to hold a 10-1 lead. The rain continued for an hour and 45 minutes, after which Florida officials announced the game was cancelled and would not be rescheduled.
The Hatters did not take that result lying down, however. Deprived of a likely victory over D1Baseball.com's 7th-ranked team in the country, Stetson protested through its game recap.
A visit to the Stetson baseball schedule reveals this:
Now here's how the athletics department's official recap reads:
Gainesville, Fla. – The only winner on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium was Mother Nature.
She intervened on behalf of the home-standing Florida Gators in the fifth inning with Stetson leading 10-1 and, when the rain stopped after a one hour, 45 minute delay, the Gators refused to come out and finish the game.
With two available open dates for the teams to resume the game, Florida also balked, saying those dates – Tuesday, May 10 and Tuesday, May 16 – were too close to the SEC Tournament for them to be able to play.
So, the Stetson Hatters will have to be happy with knowing that they beat the mighty Gators into submission, even though they won't get the win, or the stats, to show for their efforts.
Stetson jumped on the Gators, scoring six times in the second inning while building a 10-1 lead by the fifth before Mother Nature intervened in the proceedings.
...
That was where the game was halted. The players were cleared from the field, but the Florida grounds crew did not immediately roll the tarp out. It was not until rain started falling heavily that the crew started to move toward the tarp. With the help of the Stetson coaches, the tarp was deployed at 8:40 p.m., 25 minutes into the delay.
At 9:55 p.m., Florida announced that the game would not be resumed and that no makeup would be scheduled. At that point, the rain had completely stopped falling.
Now here's how Florida's athletics department handled the announcement:
Tonight's baseball game between Florida and Stetson has been canceled due to rain and lightning in the area that is expected to continue throughout the night.
The game will not be rescheduled.
At 13-17 on the year, it's clear Tuesday night would've been the highlight of the season for Stetson. Instead, the Hatters made the 180-mile round trip with nothing to show for it but the most brazen game recap of the year.