Cleveland, Ohio - Mother Nature threw her wicked curveball at Friday's Division I regional championship baseball game between Saint Ignatius and Toledo St. Francis de Sales.

After thunder and lightning made their presence known, the game was delayed after the top of the first inning with the Wildcats leading, 1-0.

The heavy rain that followed left Nobby's Ballpark on the campus of Case Western Reserve University unplayable and the respective coaches and athletic directors went into discussion with the tournament manager and the OHSAA to see what the next step would be.

First it was decided that the game would resume on Sunday night at 8 at Kent State University. Then, with the players already on their buses ready to head home, the news came that the game will resume on Sunday at noon on the diamond at Cuyahoga Community College-West.

Either way, it puts a lot of extra pressure on Saint Ignatius to be playing Sunday. Cleveland's Jesuit Preparatory School will hold its graduation ceremony for the Class of 2013 on Sunday at 4 p.m. That's a pretty small window for the seniors on the baseball team to play the most significant game to date in their careers and then rush to make graduation on time. And who says another delay won't occur during Sunday's game? Not the current weekend forecast.

Sunday's game, again at Tri-C West at noon, will resume at the point it was delayed on Friday evening, with St. Francis coming to bat in the bottom of the first inning, trailing, 1-0.

Saint Ignatius rode two hard shots off the bats of Dan Rowbottom and Tyler Finkler, a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Conor Hennessey and an RBI single by Nick Fabian into the 1-0 lead. After a walk to Nick Longo loaded the bases, St. Francis avoided further damage in the inning by turning a 6-4-3 double play that featured a nice pick at first base by Matt Zmuda. The Knights (29-2) and the Wildcats (25-6) are ranked fourth and 17th, respectively, in the coaches' state poll.

****A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS GOES OUT TO: Saint Ignatius' standout sophomore tennis player Nate Griffin, who split his two matches during Friday's 94th annual Boys State Tennis Tournament. Rain forced the tournament to be moved from the varsity tennis courts at The Ohio State University to the indoor Elysium Tennis Center in Plain City.

Nate defeated Miguel Cepeda of Mason, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, but was defeated in the quarterfinals by Stuart Little of Upper Arlington, 6-3, 6-0. Nate was making his second consecutive state quarterfinal appearance.

Again, we tip the corner's cap to Nate, his family, Coach Jon Barker and the entire Saint Ignatius tennis program.

AND SPEAKING OF CONGRATULATIONS, the corner also tips its lucky cap to junior football standouts Kyle Berger (linebacker, verbal to Ohio State) and Jim Byrne (offensive tackle, verbal to Notre Dame), who are among the early nominees for the annual 2014 US Army All-American Bowl.

Note: We will update you on the final results at the Amherst Regional, when they become available.