Shockwaves

We’re done for tonight. We pick up Saturday at 2 p.m. in the sixth inning. The regularly scheduled game will follow.

Here comes the rain. Very hard. Torrential. Sheets.

Top five rain-delay songs

1. Love Reign O’er Me -The Who
2. I Love a Rainy Night – Eddie Rabbitt
3. It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls
4. Blame It On The Rain – Milli Vanilli
5. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head – B.J. Thomas

Still waiting. No rain or hail yet. Some lightning flashes.

Hail and high winds are on the way. Fans are asked to leave the stadium. UNI officials hope to resume play in about 25 minutes after the storm passes.

Rain delay. The Panthers are scurrying to grab the tarp. Riverfront Stadium is, as its name suggests, located near the Cedar River and the ground doesn’t take much water. It is probably the MVC’s worst-draining field, so this is a problem. The storm is approaching in about 15 minutes.

WSU 7, UNI 5 (top 6th) - Bad defense bites the Shockers. Two errors help the Panthers score three runs. Kelley, who was lifted for Remington Johnson with two outs, threw a ball past McKeever with one out to get the damage started. This is two Fridays in a row Kelley hasn’t gotten out of the fifth inning. His control isn’t as good as it was earlier. He isn’t striking out quite as many batters as earlier in the season.

WSU 7, UNI 2 (bottom 5th) - Brown records his second two-out RBI single of the night. He drives in Engrav, who doubled for his second hit of the night. Brown is an interesting guy to watch. He has no need to be patient or see a lot of pitches. He is up there swinging and it works. Two of his hits are on the first pitch and the third was on the second.

WSU 6, UNI 2 (bottom 3rd) - McKeever doubles in a run. Brown singles to score McKeever. A scoring explosion for the Shockers.

WSU 4, UNI 2 (top 3rd) - Uncharacteristic control problems hurt Kelley. He walks the leadoff batter. He falls behind Jeff Taliaferro 3-1 and gives up a double. They score on a chopper up the middle.

WSU 4, UNI 0 (bottom 2nd) - Good execution puts WSU in position to score a run. Poor execution limits the Shockers to that one run. Brown and Bascue reach base. Lassley bunts them over (almost safe himself). Brown, who singled, scores on a wild pitch. With Bascue at third, Grimes and Jones strike out.

The wacky MVC race – Evansville is hammering MSU ace Tim Clubb. The Aces led 8-1 in the fourth.

WSU 3, UNI (bottom 1st) - Baez drives in a run with a single. Engrav drives in two with another single that scooted under the shortstop’s glove. I don’t think it’s being too dramatic to say that Shockers really needed that. Tim Kelley isn’t used to pitching with a lead.

We are looking at a 6:40 start. Bad weather headed this way. We may get delays tonight.

Last baseball trip to Waterloo (where the Panthers play at Riverfront Stadium; the campus is in nearby Cedar Falls). It is unfortunate the UNI is dropping baseball. It’s not good for the sport. From my vantage point, Panthers coach Rick Heller has done a fine job of getting something out of a bad situation. It’s a program that was basically neglected by everyone except Heller and his players. You need only get one look at Riverfront Stadium to see that.

It is beautiful today in Waterloo. Unfortunately, lots of rain is in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. It could be another long weekend for the Shockers waiting out the weather.

Long story about former Shocker (and former Bluejay) Tony Pechek.

Lineups – Tyler Grimes is hitting leadoff for the second time this season. He is on a one-game streak of homering as the leadoff hitter on the road. Will Baez is hitting third. Ryan Engrav is in right field and batting fifth. He has not started sicne April 15 at Kansas State and hasn’t played since April 19 at Missouri State.