Lost in the Fog

Outcome of Comets’ second DH game against Cadets ‘unclear’

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — The one thing that seemed to be lost in the fog regarding the second game of Charles City’s doubleheader against Crestwood was the outcome.

“From the way I see it, the losing team finished batting in their top of the fifth when it was called, so the home team should be the winners,” Charles City head baseball coach Tyler Downing said after the second game was called due to poor visibility while the Comets were leading 8-7.

“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow morning what the state association decides,” Downing said.

Earlier at Sportsmen’s Park, it didn’t look like they were going to get Game One in.

The game started under a steady shower with faith in a forecast that rains will end for good by 7 p.m. That proved to be accurate, but nobody predicted the fog that would plague Game Two.

“We never had anything like this before,” Downing said of the fog, which started to form in the drenched outfield during first inning.

The first wave of fog only partially hampered visibility before dissipating. The second wave, which formed in the fourth inning, nearly completely obscured the outfielders from fans in the stands behind the backstop.

A pending victory would salvage a split for the Comets, who lost the first game, 3-1, despite a strong pitching performance from Charles City junior Drew Mitchell.

Mitchell struck out 12, and yielded five hits and one earned run in seven innings.

His counterpart, Austin McConnell, pitched a two-hitter. One of the hits he gave up was a game-tying double to Mitchell in the sixth inning.

In the top half of the seventh, the Cadets scored two unearned runs for the margin of victory.

In the second game, the Cadets rallied for four runs in the top half of the first. The Comets responded in the bottom half with a three-run rally, then rallied for four more runs in the third to go up 7-4.

Brady Sickman, Theo Arndt and Noah Schlader each had two hits for the Comets before the game was called. Nate Lasher, who would be the winning pitcher if the final decision goes Charles City’s way, score two runs.

Mitchell walked three times, and the Comets drew a total of seven bases on balls through four innings.

They were a little less patient against McConnell in the first game — three times Charles City started an inning swinging at the first pitch for immediate outs.

“We talked a little about patience in between games,” Downing said. “We wanted to be more selective … swing at strikes, don’t swing at balls.

“We also want them to be aggressive when they are ahead in the count.”