Class 6A state baseball tournament pushed back another day, Firebirds now will play at 1:15 p.m. Saturday

photo by: Emma Pravecek/Journal-World Photo

First baseman Harrison Juhl catches a toss from pitcher Tyler Vigna. Free State defeated Dodge City 10-0 at the regional title game on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

The Free State High baseball team will have to wait yet another day to open play at this year’s 6A state tournament in Fort Scott.

For the second day in a row on Thursday, the eight-team, single-elimination tournament was pushed back a day, this time to Saturday and Sunday instead of the originally scheduled slate of Thursday and Friday games.

On Wednesday, the games were pushed back to Friday and Saturday, but now the entire tournament is slated to take place over the weekend.

Heavy rain in the area created the need to reschedule the event, and the sixth-seeded Firebirds (15-8) now will take on No. 3 seed Olathe West (18-4) at 1:15 p.m. Saturday at LaRoche Baseball Complex in Fort Scott.

The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the semifinals and will play at 11 a.m. Sunday, with a trip to the state title game on the line. The championship game is set for 5:45 p.m. Sunday.

Asked if there were any benefits to the games being pushed back, Free State coach Mike Hill said Wednesday that the delays could have an impact on how the tournament plays out when the games are finally able to begin.

“You don’t want to sit around and keep waiting,” Hill said. “It doesn’t benefit you in any regard. It doesn’t give your arms an extra day (of rest) and, at this stage, you don’t want to go too long without playing.”

Hill said the other challenge that comes from weather-related postponements at this point in the season was that teams are usually not able to get out and practice while they wait to play, so there’s a lot of sitting around and waiting.

“You know, it’s the old saying, ‘The hay’s in the barn,'” Hill said. “There’s nothing we’re going to do in the next day or two, practice-wise, that’s going to change anything.”

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