Until Friday morning, the last time an MIAC baseball team had played a game was more than a week ago because of the weather. Games that had been rescheduled once were rescheduled again and then postponed.
The solution? Conference teams are gathering today at St. John's in Collegeville and Concordia in Moorhead for a long weekend of doubleheaders. The games started Friday morning with Concordia and St. Thomas splitting a doubleheader. St. Olaf and Augsburg were scheduled to start a doubleheader in Moorhead, a four-hour trip for both teams, at 3 p.m.
There are 13 more doubleheaders scheduled from Saturday morning through Monday night, although a few games could be moved if another field becomes playable and is a better geographical fit. There are also doubleheaders scheduled at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter on Sunday and St. Mary's in Winona on Monday.
The rest of the schedule has been redrawn with teams playing home-site doubleheaders starting Wednesday and running through May 7. All games will be seven innings instead of the seven-inning opener and nine-inning nightcap usually played by college teams.
In addition, the conference has expanded its playoff format from four teams to six, adding two play-in games on May 10 to set up a four-team double-elimination tournament on May 11 through 13 at CHS Field in St. Paul, where Hamline plays its home games.
