Shepherd University pitcher Chris Chaney blanked the Huskies, 5-0, with his complete-game three-hitter, in Saturday afternoon’s game. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Relying on the sports’ adage, “Forget about what happened yesterday, just concentrate on today’s game,” Shepherd made its normal pre-game preparation for last Saturday’s baseball doubleheader at hitter-friendly Fairfax Field against conference rival Bloomsburg.

The weather was being cooperative and the seating area was filling fast with fans from both schools lolling in the sunshine and donning sun glasses as the welcomed temperature reached 70-degrees.

The traveling Huskies had beaten the Rams the day before in a single game in Bloomsburg. Shepherd needed to forget that loss. And its pitcher, Chris Chaney, was just the strike-throwing righthander to provide that “today’s the day” adjustment that was needed.

Chaney blanked the Huskies, 5-0, with his complete-game three-hitter, replete with seven strikeouts and three double plays turned behind him.

Normalcy for a college baseball game. Then came the nightcap. And as the lengthy game wore on, normalcy escaped Shepherdstown and the weather quickly assumed complete control.

With Bloomsburg rallying for an uncomfortable one-run lead, lightning was reported and a 30-minute forced delay was invoked. Several more times thunder was heard although no lightning was seen in the area near Fairfax Field.

The total delay reached near the one hour and 30-minute mark. Would the game finally be stopped with Bloomsburg being credited with a one-run win and a split of the doubleheader? The answer was “no.”

Finally, the teams placidly began to warm up, pitchers getting the sufficient time to be ready when play began anew.

Darkness, even with the advent of Daylight Savings Time, was a possibility. Eight innings had been completed before play had been interrupted.

As lamp posts on the campus shined their light, Bloomsburg’s Ben Newbert and Kyle OFier hit home runs in the glooming and the Huskies increased their lead to 9-5.

Shepherd needed at least four runs to wrangle a tie.

“Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’ was not in the stands. But somebody who was might report to that age-old organization what happened next.

With one out, Ross Mulhall was hit by a pitch and Brady Weaver (a late-game entry) doubled along the third base foul line to plate a run. Daniel Keer walked to further complicate matters for the Huskies as the still-believing Rams kept after them.

Cole Daugherty watched a wild pitch get a runner to third base before his sacrifice fly made the Bloomsburg lead shrink to two runs.

Peyton Mason, who had played very little during the 2022 season and was without a hit in limited at-bats, batted in diminished light. He deposited a two-run homer over the waiting fence in left-center field.

It was a 9-9 game. The Rams even had another base runner, but couldn’t score again.

The umpires decided to play on, and Bloomsburg had three batters reach base safely and had one out in what became the top of the 10th inning.

It was still light enough for those remaining in the stands and dugouts to barely see the two umpires confer. They decided it was too dark to continue . . . and the game ended with three Husky runners aboard, one out and daylight long gone on this day.

The second game was officially a tie, leaving the afternoon/evening statistical total with a Shepherd win and a tie.

Keer and Daugherty had second-game homers for the Rams. Weaver, Keer and Joey Schwartz all had two hits and Keer scored three runs.

Chaney’s shutout masterpiece had the run-scoring highlights of Ross Mulhall’s conference-leading seventh home run and two hits from Zach Doss and Keer.

The Rams made up a conference game against Mansfield on Monday and are at Shippensburg today before being scheduled to host the Red Raiders in a doubleheader tomorrow in the welcoming daylight at Fairfax Field.