Baseball notebook: rain forces Ohio State game cancellation

At 4:20 p.m. today, the sun shone brightly and the temperature rose to nearly 80 degrees in Oxford. It was a perfect spring day.

An hour later, a heavy rain shower forced the cancellation of a scheduled 5 p.m. baseball game between Miami and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Clouds crept over Hayden Park around 4:30 p.m., and a lightning strike at 4:36 p.m. caused both squads to vacate the field. Due to NCAA rules, teams can't be on the playing surface for 30 minutes after there's lightning within an eight-mile radius.

The RedHawks and Buckeyes never reappeared from their dugouts.

After a second bolt at 5:01 p.m. and the commencement of rain minutes after, the game was doomed. It was called off at approximately 5:22 p.m.

Miami head coach Danny Hayden spent most of the rain delay chatting and watching the weather radar with Ohio State skipper Greg Beals in the Buckeyes' dugout.

"Once the season starts, it seems like 80 percent of our job is trying to be a meteorologist and figure out what the weather is going to do, especially in this region," Hayden said. "It'll be 80 degrees today, it'll be a thunderstorm tomorrow, it'll be 40 degrees on Saturday, you know?"

With only three weeks left in the regular season, the contest will not be rescheduled.

The RedHawks return to the field, hopefully without precipitation, on Friday evening. They will travel to Athens to take on Ohio University in this season's first Battle of the Bricks. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

The RedHawks beat Xavier 7-4 on Tuesday

Wednesday was supposed to be the second of two midweek games for Miami (32-12, 12-6 Mid-American) this week.

The team beat the Xavier Musketeers 7-4 on Tuesday afternoon, claiming its third win in its last nine games.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

The matchup featured four home runs, two by each side, with the winds blowing out of Xavier's small Hayden Field, named after the same family as Miami's Hayden Park.

By stringing together 13 hits and seven runs, and holding the Musketeers to four scores on nine base knocks, the RedHawks snapped a two-game losing streak and rebounded from a 13-4 loss to Xavier the week prior.

Miami took the lead for good on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch followed by an RBI single in the top of the fifth inning.

"I thought [my team's effort] was really competitive, both the at-bats but also the pitching" Hayden said. "We didn't play perfect baseball, but, when we're approaching things the right way, I think we're tough enough that we don't need to play perfect baseball to win. That was good to see."

Cole Gnetz reveals origin of "hot soup" catchphrase

For the past couple seasons, senior pitcher Cole Gnetz has been yelling "hot soup!"

His teammates often join in anytime a foul ball is lined toward the Miami dugout.

But even though many RedHawks follow Gnetz in saying his signature phrase, nobody really understood it.

Last year, then-redshirt senior first baseman Ross Haffey said, "No one really knows what that means."

Gnetz shared his secrets on Tuesday, saying he's not the original creator of "hot soup."

Playing for the Lakeshore Chinooks in the Northwoods League after his freshman year, Gnetz heard Nolan Bond from the University of Houston using the phrase.

"I thought it was kind of funny, just in the regard that like, a guy almost gets pegged with a foul ball, and then you hear 'hot soup' in the distance," Gnetz said. "So, I started taking off with it."

He brought the phrase to Oxford when he returned the following season.

But, still - what the heck does it mean?

"If you think about it in a logical reason, someone says 'hot soup,'" Gnetz said. "Other people, like on a foul ball, say, 'Watch your lips.' So, 'Hot soup coming through, watch your lips.' That connected for me, so I was just like, 'I'm going to run with it.'

"You find your niche, and you just roll with it. It's kind of my thing now."

Interesting.

vinelca@miamioh.edu

@ChrisAVinel