Griffons season opener postponed due to rain

Though Thursday's Nevada Griffons season opener was washed out by rain, the field at Lyons Stadium looked as though it could have been used Friday afternoon, before more storms rolled through the area.

By Eric Wade

Daily Mail Sports Editor

The Nevada Griffons will have to wait just a little bit longer to get the 2013 season started.

Head coach Ryan Mansfield's squad was scheduled to kick off the season Thursday night with an exhibition game against the Midwest Nationals, but Mother Nature had other plans. After a day of nearly nonstop rainfall and thunderstorms, the field at Lyons Stadium was simply too wet to be playable.

By Friday, however, the field was almost completely dry and the field looked as though it had barely seen any moisture in a number of places.

"By 7 or 8 o'clock, this field will be ready," Mansfield said. "So, rainouts won't happen very often."

That changed quickly, however, as torrential rains and severe thunderstorms inundated the area again on Friday, putting Sunday's home game in possible jeopardy.

Mansfield's Griffons are scheduled to be back in action on Saturday, taking on the St. Joseph Mustangs at Phil Welch Stadium before returning home for a second game against the Mustangs on Sunday. That contest is slated to be Fan Appreciation Night and will begin at 7 p.m., weather permitting.

With rain and thunderstorms in the forecast through Saturday, odds of getting that game in weren't looking good, as of Friday evening. According to the National Weather Service, total rainfall amounts could range from 2 to 5 inches across the area, with local amounts as high as 6 inches possible by the time the storm system makes its exit in the early portions of Saturday.

The rain isn't the only problem the Griffons have this summer, however. General manager Jeff Post said Thursday that he and Griffons housing coordinator Dan Keller are still a few beds short of having a place for everyone on the Griffons roster to stay for the summer.

"We still need about four beds," Post said.

Mansfield said he should have all of his players in Nevada by the middle of next week and one has already elected to leave the team, so the number of beds still needed for Griffons players isn't quite known for sure just yet. According to Keller, however, the four beds Post thought the team still needed wasn't far off from the actual total.

"I think we're still either four or six, probably about six (short)," Keller said.

Anyone who is interested in housing a Griffons player for the summer can learn more by calling Keller at 417-667-6208.

Mansfield's Griffons finished last season in third place in the MINK League South Division standings with an overall record of 21-21, a game and a half behind the Sedalia Bombers. The Bombers lost the League Championship series to the Mustangs in three games.

The Griffons went on to take seventh place in the National Baseball Congress World Series in the second-best showing for a MINK League team in the tournament. The Santa Barbara (Calif.) Foresters won the tournament, securing their second NBC World Series Championship in as many years and their fourth overall with a 6-2 victory over the Seattle (Wash.) Studs.

That win made the Foresters just the second team in tournament history to win back-to-back titles and the first since the Kenai (Alaska) Oilers did it in 1993 and 1994. It was the second time since 2008 the Foresters took the title with a win over the Studs in the tournament finals.