The Plant City baseball team appeared to be headed to the 7A Region 2 semifinals, but not so fast.
The region quarterfinal game Thursday night between Plant City and George Jenkins was suspended in the bottom of the seventh due to rain. Jenkins had scored in the inning to tie the game at 2-2, but after the game was suspended, the umpire reverted the score of the game at the start of the inning, which had Plant City leading 2-1.
An FHSAA rule states that the score is reverted to the start on the inning if a rain out occurs. Games after five innings are considered “complete games.”
But Friday morning, Jenkins put in a request to Plant City athletic director Traci Durrance that they would like to finish the game Saturday afternoon. If this occurs, the game would resume in the bottom of the seventh tied at two with Jenkins at the plate with two outs and a runner on first.
According to Durrance, the game will resume Saturday at 3 p.m. at George Jenkins.
National Federation of State High School Associations rules state that teams must be give an equal number of innings.
Plant City head coach Mike Fryrear said Friday that they tried to protest the decision, but there was “no solution to our problem.”
Fryrear said the seventh inning should have never been played with the rainy and wet conditions. PCHS pitcher Keven Long struggled to get a grip on the ball and hit two Jenkins hitters in the bottom of the seventh. One Jenkins batter lost his handle on a bat and threw it into the on-deck circle.
Fryrear said Long, who threw the seven innings Thursday, will not throw Saturday.
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