WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Falcons had to practice for a full week before they could play in the summer baseball league. Mother Nature almost made them wait another day before their first game.
But after hours of work on the dirt infield at the Falcon Athletic Complex, Blair Oaks was able to get in a pair of JV games against Helias and Fatima.
"Our field isn't the nicest in the city by any means but it does dry well," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "It's just a matter of seeing when the rain would stop. I woke up this morning and it was raining a ton, but then it stopped raining and we saw some sun."
Blair Oaks' varsity team was scheduled to host Macon on Tuesday, but with a long drive ahead of the Tigers and a chance of rain still in the forecast, that contest has been pushed back until today. It will be one 9-inning game at Blair Oaks.
The Falcons still wanted to get in some games Tuesday, so they scrambled to get a pair of JV teams to fill the opening in the schedule.
The first Blair Oaks team - made up of incoming freshmen - won 5-2 against Helias. In the nightcap, the Falcons' other JV team - mostly made up of incoming sophomores and juniors - dropped a 15-0 decision to Fatima.
"It's been a long time since we've played baseball," DeMilia said. "It's just nice to be out here. We just needed to get out and get back to some normalcy."
The summer baseball league began for most area teams last week, but Blair Oaks was one of a few teams that opted to have a full week of practice before playing any games.
"I think it made a difference," DeMilia said of the practices. "Some of our kids have been playing with some other teams and getting in tournaments, but a lot of our kids haven't played much at all.
"We know we have a long ways to go before these guys get it figured out, but I think it was good for us."
In the first game, Blair Oaks used seven different pitchers, one for each inning. No pitcher threw more than 21 pitches in an inning, and Jake Hagner struck out three batters in the fifth, while Caidon Sanford had back-to-back strikeouts to start the third.
"Everybody has a different philosophy," DeMilia said. "We're not going to throw our guys for very long. I know some teams are throwing their guys four and five innings the first start of the year. Our guys aren't ready for that, and even if they are, we need to get a look at guys."
Colton Bryan and Jacob Tellman each had RBI singles in the first inning of Game 1 to put Blair Oaks ahead 3-1. Tellman added another RBI single in the third, extending the lead to 5-1.
The Falcons also made plenty of big defensive plays, robbing Helias of a chance to break out for a big inning.
In Game 2, Blair Oaks was able to field a new group of JV players against the Comets.
"We have 51 kids playing this summer," DeMilia said. "At one point we were at 55. To have 51 guys on the field, you're bound to get better as a program doing that."
Blair Oaks will have six of its eight seniors from the 2020 team playing today against Macon.
"The mentality in the summer is to prepare for next year," DeMilia said. "We're still doing that, but we want to see those seniors get out here and play. They deserve to end their careers on a baseball field."