An unexpected afternoon rain shower pushed back the start of Friday's Division II quarterfinal baseball series at Baylor.
Though the storm had passed by early evening, Mason Hickman still had plenty of lightning in his right arm. The sophomore pitched a complete-game five-hitter as visiting Pope John Paul II defeated the Red Raiders 5-1 in the opening of the three-game set.
However, due to the lateness of the game and by agreement between the two schools prior to the game, the second game was not played and will start tonight at 9. The late start is to accommodate PJP's graduation. Game three, if necessary, would be played Sunday.
After Hickman finished off the Raiders a few minutes after 10, the visitors clearly wanted to play game two and were not happy to be told it wasn't happening.
"We were hoping to get in two today, but that didn't work out, so we'll come back down tomorrow, and if we have to play again Sunday we'll do that," said winning coach Michael Brown, a former coach at Ridgeland and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.
Brown's team got on board first in the second inning on Ryan Hatten's solo homer, then added two runs in the fourth on Dalton Smith's suicide squeeze -- one of two for the Knights -- and a Ben Brooks RBI single.
Hickman, who was roughed up by Baylor two weeks ago as the Raiders swept the Knights in the regular season, allowed only one hit through the first four innings. Will Jumper ruined the shutout with a two-out RBI single in the fifth, but Hickman fanned Hunter Hollins to end the threat with two on.
"Mason has been good for us all year," Brown said. "They made him throw a lot of pitches, but he kept battling and scrapping -- they've got so many good hitters -- and he got through it."
The Knights broke the game open in the sixth, scoring three runs without a hit. Two hit batters, two walks, an error, a passed ball and two wild pitches did the damage and took all the pressure off Hickman, who worked through a pair of seventh-inning walks to close the deal.
"He's a very good pitcher," praised retiring Baylor coach Gene Etter. "I was kind of amazed we were able to hit him the way we did the weekend before last. He's tough, though.
"We'll just do the best we can with this schedule. It should be easier on us, at least tomorrow, since they have graduation. I don't know how that will play out, or if it will benefit us or not, but we'll just have to see."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.