Riverman Andy Warden (5) slides into second base ahead of the Truman State second baseman's tag in a game earlier this season. The Rivermen recently had a nine-game winning streak snapped against Lewis University. photo by Stephanie Platt

It has been a weird season for the UM-St. Louis baseball team. They have had games called due to weather, field conditions and protested umpire calls. The worst may have come last Friday when no umpires came to the UM-St. Louis field to call the Rivermen's game against Quincy.

The game had been called due to darkness earlier in the season. The game had been played to a score of 2-2 with the 14th as the final full inning being played. The Rivermen are currently making a surge to qualify for the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament which made the game very important to finish.

"Put this one in the books. It just goes to show that if we didn't have bad luck we would have none at all," Rivermen Head Coach Jim Brady said. "It just goes to show what kind of season it has been."

Due to the rain that had been pouring earlier in the week, many high school J.V. and varsity baseball games had been canceled and rescheduled for Friday.

"The commissioner of umpires had tried all day Thursday to get an umpire here. He also got up at 5:00 a.m. (Friday) to try to get someone here," Brady said. "It just couldn't be done. All the high school games were being made up and the umpires were all locked into previous obligations."

The Rivermen had planned on getting the game finished, but with the cancellation it will depend heavily on conference tournament implications. They will have a make-up game against Indianapolis today also.

"We really have [to] win all six games that we have remaining," said Riverman Mark Masesso. "SIU-Edwardsville also has to lose otherwise it is over for us in the conference."

The Rivermen will have a long haul in the conference after dropping two games last Thursday against Quincy. They lost the first game 4-0 and the second 5-3.

"Those were two tough games. We should have won the second game. We just broke down. An error and a couple of walks led to a three run rally," Masesso said. "It takes a lot of air out of the balloon when those kinds of things happen in a close game."

Making the conference tournament may not be the only way the Rivermen will make the Regional Tournament. There are four at-large bids which the Rivermen could receive as they stand at 26-11-1. They are 19th in the Division II standings and 4th in the Regional standings.

"There is a possibility that we could miss the tournament and have the same record as Indianapolis," Brady said. "They could look at our overall record and season and put us there based on the way we have played.