The Eastern baseball team pulled the tarp off the infield shortly before its scheduled game at 3 p.m. against Indiana State.

Except something was different.

There was no team to play.

In a bizarre scenario, Wednesday’s baseball game was canceled, but not because of inclement weather – because Indiana State didn’t show up, said Eastern head coach baseball Jim Schmitz.

“I’ve never had it done in 23 years of coaching,” Schmitz said. “I don’t want it to be a big issue, but it’s an issue. The other team, they don’t tell us, dictate, whether they’re coming or not.”

Schmitz said ISU head coach Lindsay Meggs called him around 11:30 a.m.

Meggs had talked with ISU athletic director Ron Prettyman and had come to a decision that the Sycamores wouldn’t travel to Charleston.

Phone messages to Meggs’ office and Prettyman’s office on Tuesday afternoon were not returned.

Schmitz said he is trying to make Wednesday’s game count as a forfeit win for Eastern.

“We’ll work through the OVC and let them help us through it,” said Mark Bonnstetter, Eastern’s associate athletic director for operations. “I was a little perplexed. I didn’t realize that the visiting team made the decision on whether we’d play at our place.”

Rain started Tuesday evening in Charleston and continued Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon, a brief hail storm went through Charleston, causing the softball game against Southeast Missouri to be delayed. But the game continued.

“It’s frustrating,” said senior shortstop Adam Varrassi. “We want to play. We don’t want to practice. That’s a good team to warm up for this weekend.”

Eastern travels to take on Jacksonville State in a key three-game series in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. JSU is tied for first right now at 7-2, while Eastern is tied for third with a 5-3 conference record.

Wednesday’s game was the third canceled game in the last eight days for Schmitz’s team. The April 3 game against Saint Xavier was canceled because of a severe thunderstorm that hit Charleston that day.

This past Saturday’s game against Murray State was canceled because of near-freezing temperatures.

Eastern has played in some unpredictable weather recently.

The two games the Panthers managed to get in against Murray State last Friday were played with temperatures in the 30s. Two brief snow delays delayed the first game of Friday’s doubleheader against the Thoroughbreds.

In the March 31 series at Tennessee-Martin, Eastern played through the final three innings of its first game against the Skyhawks in a steady rain. The rain canceled the second game of the doubleheader that day. But the Panthers made up that game by playing two games the next day against UTM.

“We’ve been through some pretty long rain delays,” Varrassi said shortly before Wednesday’s 3 p.m. practice. “Especially with the sun shining right now, it’s absolutely ridiculous (why we’re not playing).”

Sophomore centerfielder Brett Nommensen echoed Varrassi’s sentiments about practicing instead of playing in a game.

“We’ll be kind of bummed that we’re not playing against anyone else but each other,” he said.

The Panthers are still scheduled to host Olivet Nazarene today at 3 p.m.

Head baseball coach Jim Schmitz talks to his players during the balmy Wednesday practice at Coaches Stadium. Schmitz reminded his players about the weather coming up and the need to see live pitches to keep the players ready for the “real thing.” (John Ba

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