Photo | Paul Adkins

Members of the Logan High School girls’ softball team tried to wait out Wednesday night’s rain-delayed Logan-SC baseball game. The contest, however, was suspended in the fifth inning.

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What do the Logan High School and South Charleston baseball teams have in common with the girl on the Morton’s salt box?

They’re all wet.

Rain was again the victor in Wednesday night’s Class AAA sectional baseball tourney game at Logan’s Roger Gertz Field.

But at least this time they were able to play four full innings.

Last night’s game was suspended by rain in the top of the fifth inning with South Charleston leading 3-2. The Black Eagles had the bases loaded and one out before the skies opened up and heavy rain and small hail fell down onto the field.

After a 40-minute rain delay and an attempt to fix the field, tournament officials and the coaches from each team decided to suspend the game.

The contest is scheduled to resume on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Logan and will pick up from the same spot.

Logan and South Charleston were originally scheduled to play each other on Tuesday night but the game was also rained out.

With two straight rainouts the double-elimination sectional tourney will now have to be extended to at least Saturday.

After Thursday’s suspended game is finished, South Charleston is slated to play George Washington on Friday night.

The finals, between the two remaining teams, would then be played on Saturday.

If a second game is needed, it would most likely have to be delayed five more days until Thursday, May 17. That’s because the WESTEST is scheduled to be given in the Logan County Schools next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and no games are allowed to be played.

Logan came into the game with a 20-5 record and the state’s No. 8 ranking. South Charleston was just 7-23 and had lost twice to the Wildcats during the regular season, including a close 7-6 setback at Logan.

The Wildcats began the sectional tourney on Monday with a 6-2 victory over Joe Wong and the homestanding George Washington Patriots.

Senior Alex Mareske was Logan’s starting pitcher in last night’s suspended game. He lasted four innings and gave up three runs and four hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

Justin Oney came into the game in the fifth inning in relief.

After striking out Zach Wright, Jonathan Cline beat out an infield single. Jake Woolwine and Austin Santrock then drew back-to-back walks to load up the bases. As Evan Delbart came to the plate with the bases juiced, the rain came.

South Charleston was outhitting Logan 5-4 in Wednesday’s game. Logan had committed five errors in the game to three to the Black Eagles.

Logan had jumped ahead 2-0 on SC pitcher Jared Jurst in the bottom of the first inning.

Adam Mareske led off by being safe on an error and Z. Minnick walked. The runners moved up to second and third with one out after a balk. Alex Mareske walked and that set the table for Matthew Greene who ripped a two-out, bases loaded double.

South Charleston cut it to 2-1 in the second as Santrock walked, stole second and scored as DH Antonio Brown grounded into a double play, Logan’s fifth in its last two contests.

The Black Eagles then went ahead 3-2 in the fourth. The first run scored after a pair of Logan errors. Third baseman Jonathan Pauley then broke the tie with an RBI single to left.

Cline and Pauley each had two hits for South Charleston. Rease Ripley added a double.

Staton also had a hit for Logan.

* Heading into the game, Alex Mareske was leading the Wildcats with a .442 batting average. He also had team highs in home runs with three and RBI with 26. Mareske had five doubles and two triples and had a team-best .675 slugging percentage.

Greene, a West Virginia University signee, had a .436 average with 24 RBI, three doubles and three triples. Greene and Mareske tied for a team-high 34 base hits.

Freshman Z. Minnick has a .375 average with one homer, 22 RBI, three doubles and three triples.

Adam Mareske is hitting at a .369 clip with four RBI, two doubles and a triple. He also has a team-best .554 on-base percentage, boosted by his 22 walks and five hit-by-pitches — both tops on the squad.

Catcher/first baseman Benji Adkins has a .354 average with one homer, 21 RBI, a team-best seven doubles and two triples.

Justin Oney has a .343 batting average with 13 RBI and five doubles.

Middle infielder Trent Dalton (.271, 11 RBI, 3 doubles), outfielder Codie Doss (.261, 8 RBI, 1 double) and outfielder Andrew Staton (.262, 12 RBI, 1 double) round out Logan’s starters.

On the mound, the Wildcats are led by Cody Frye, who is 7-2 with a 1.83 ERA. The right-hander has 41 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 46 innings of work.

Minnick is 5-1 with a 4.29 ERA. He has fired 32.2 innings and has fanned 37 and walked 25.

Alex Mareske has a 3-1 record and 2.75 ERA with three saves. He’s tossed 35.2 innings and has struck out 40 and walked 14.

Oney, Logan’s closer, is 0-1 with a 3.29 ERA and a team-best six saves. He’s pitched 17 innings and has fanned 28 and walked only nine.

Johnny Morrison is 2-0 on the hill with a 4.59 ERA. He has pitched 10.2 innings and has 15 strikeouts with seven walks.

Troy Burgess is 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA. In 10.2 innings of work, he’s allowed just one earned run and seven hits with 13 strikeouts and three walks.

Greene, Staton and Trace Butcher have also seen a handful of innings on the mound.