Why infield sod forced Ole Miss baseball's game vs. Southern Miss to be canceled

PEARL — The scene at Trustmark Park on Tuesday wouldn't have looked out of place on a postcard. The mid-60s weather might've been a tad on the cool side, but it was still pleasant. It was an ideal night for baseball.

Nevertheless, the umpires called Ole Miss baseball and Southern Miss off the field in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Golden Eagles led 2-1, but the game was ruled a no-contest due to unsafe playing conditions.

The newly-laid sod on the infield hadn't taken well. When Rebels pitcher Brayden Jones stumbled while chasing a bunt down the third-base line, umpire crew chief Javerro January met with Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco and Southern Miss coach Scott Berry to see what they thought. Mutually – according to both coaches – they arrived at the decision to call the game.

"Now this box I can check," said Berry, whose first campaign as a head coach came in 1997 at Meridian Community College. "I've never had this happen. That's why synthetic grass is great."

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It became apparent to both coaches that the sod – visibly in poor condition ‒ wasn't an ideal playing surface while the teams were warming up. But because very little of their pregame routines involved running on the infield surface, it wasn't clear just how problematic the sod was until the game started, when players began to lose their footing.

On a handful of occasions, the groundskeepers emerged to fiddle with the sod on the first-base line, which seemed to be a particular problem area.

"They were blowing out over there," Berry said.

In the third inning, January met with the coaches to recommend giving the grounds crew one inning to address the problem. When it became clear their efforts were insufficient after Jones' stumble in the fourth, the game was called.

Approached by The Clarion Ledger after the game, two grounds crew members declined to comment.

"It's the right thing," Bianco said. "It's disappointing, obviously, for both teams to come all this way, to get this deep into the game, have this many fans here and not play. So, obviously, there's a lot of disappointment around for everybody. But at the end of the day, it's the right thing. Nobody wants to lose a player midseason to bad field conditions."

It's the second time this season that Ole Miss (15-9, 0-6 SEC) left the field trailing but didn't register a loss. When a rain delay pulled Ole Miss and Louisiana Tech off the field in the top of the seventh on March 1, the Rebels were awarded a win when a 5-4 deficit became a 4-3 lead with the score rolling back to the last completed inning, per NCAA rules. This time around, neither the Rebels nor Golden Eagles (14-9, 3-3 SBC) will have their record impacted.

The contractual make-up date for the game is on Wednesday, but the Mississippi Braves confirmed in a statement on social media that the game will not be rescheduled due to scheduling conflicts.

"Any fans with tickets to tonight's game may exchange the ticket for two tickets to a 2023 Mississippi Braves game this season," a team statement read. "The Mississippi Braves regret the outcome of tonight's college game and encourage fans to take advantage of the ticket offer."

The Rebels visit Texas A&M this weekend for a three-game set, while the Golden Eagles travel to Troy.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Infield sod forces cancellation of Ole Miss baseball vs. Southern Miss