Baseball teams are overcoming poor weather

[KFDM COOP]

Baseball teams are overcoming poor weather

Several members of the Vidor baseball team spent most of Thursday manicuring their home field with hopes of getting a late start to the District 22-4A season.

The players also batted and threw in the school's newly-renovated indoor practice facility and sought NCAA men's basketball tournament score updates.

"They'd probably rather be at the beach," said Vidor coach Kyle Green, who put his players to work at 9:30 a.m. on a field saturated by heavy rain Wednesday.

By mid-afternoon, large pools of standing water in the outfield remained under clear skies. Green told his players he was 90 percent sure the team would play at 7 p.m. but privately had doubts about that.

"I feel bad for them," Green said. "As a coach, you'd like for them to play. They come to the field every day thinking they're going to play. This is their spring break, so you'd like to give them a day off."

Vidor was supposed to open district play Tuesday against Nederland. Then rain moved the game to Wednesday and more rain moved it to Thursday. The game is now scheduled for Saturday.

Vidor will instead open district play at 7 p.m. tonight at Lumberton in a regularly scheduled game.

Several other Class 5A and 4A schools in SE Texas had their district openers moved from Tuesday because of rain. Some will play tonight, beginning district play three days later than planned.

Most District 21-3A and other 2A and A schools began district play under drier conditions March 6.

At Vidor, anticipation for the district season has grown with each passing day.

"This is supposed to be our year," said senior pitcher Justin Rhodes, who threw a five-inning no-hitter against Lufkin Central at the season-opening Lufkin Hudson tournament. "We've all put in so much work."

The Pirates enter district play with an 11-2 record that has them two wins shy of last season's total of 13. Green's Vidor teams had only four more wins than losses through his first four seasons, so his fifth may be the brightest yet.

"You'd hate to say something too early, but these guys have done everything they've been asked to do," Green said.

Vidor is 9-1 in games at three tournaments, with the loss coming to Jasper. Vidor's other loss was a non-district game against West Brook.

Vidor avenged the loss to Jasper with an 8-4, nine-inning victory March 9 in a tournament at Jasper. Senior right-hander Jonathan Smith tossed all nine innings, struck out 11 and walked one.

Smith retired the last 11 batters and had a 12-to-3 ground ball-to-fly ball ratio.

"That's a great hitting team," said junior shortstop V.J. Bunner, who had a team-high three of the team's 14 hits in that game. "And for (Smith) to put out the effort that he did was unbelievable. I was proud of him."

Bunner spent much of Thursday morning raking the dirt around his shortstop position.

Green assigns infielders to smooth out the dirt, has outfielders clean the dugouts and pitchers Smith and Rhodes manicure the mound.

Bunner said he helped push water over the foul lines and to the sides of the field. He linked himself to so many of the other high school baseball players around Southeast Texas who spent recent days doing the same type of landscaping work.

"They all have to work on the field and try and get ready to play," he said. "We're all in the same boat right now."