Bees postpone home opener
Apr 9, 2019, 7:04 PM | Updated: 7:36 pm
(Photo: Paul Nelson)
(Photo: Paul Nelson)
SALT LAKE CITY – Mother Nature must not be a baseball fan. Tuesday was supposed to be the home opener for the Salt Lake Bees, but, they’ve had to postpone the game until Wednesday due to rain.
This could throw a major wrench in the Bees’ schedule.
We are officially postponed. We’ll play a doubleheader against @FresnoGrizzlies beginning at 4:35 tomorrow.
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 9, 2019
The team announced their decision to postpone the game until Wednesday. However, as bad as the weather looked in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, the forecast is even worse for Wednesday and Thursday.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Glen Merrill says they expect the snow to hit the valley floors with possibly four to five inches along the benches.
“It looks like there’s a good chance for snowfall coming off the lake,” Merrill says.
So, if they have to cancel games tomorrow, the team would have a big scheduling problem.
“If we miss this, we’d have to have three double-headers in five days, and the league rules don’t allow that. So, if we lose all three, for sure, we’d have to make one up in Fresno,” according to Bees General Manager Marc Amicone.
There have been times when the weather has been especially wet in the day, and the players have still been able to hit the field at night. Amicone says they have a good draining system and the dirt is designed to take on large amounts of water. He says they were hoping there would be a long enough break in the weather for them to play at least five innings, but, it wasn’t to be.
He says, “If the forecast was really good for the next few days, we could have cancelled this game earlier than normal.”
Before anyone takes the field for the first game of tomorrow’s double header, Amicone say they’ll have to inspect the grounds to ensure they’re solid enough to play on.
“If we’re questioning if we’re going to play, or if [the surface] is playable, we’ll have both managers and the umpires walk the field and make sure that they feel it’s safe,” Amicone says.
