Feb. 16, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Due to airline flight cancellations and the threat of inclement weather over the weekend, the Illinois State baseball team's trip to the Texas-Arlington Invitational in Arlington, Texas, has been cancelled.
While the team was on their way to Chicago's O'Hare Airport for an 8:20 p.m. flight to Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, head coach Jim Brownlee was informed that the flight had been cancelled due to weather delays. After further checking, no flights were available to the team until late Friday evening, which would only allow the Redbirds to compete in their Saturday game against Kansas State before flying home on Sunday.
The weather forecast in Arlington over the weekend also played into the decision to cancel the trip. The schedule for the invitational was revised on Wednesday to account for inclement weather forecasts in the area, with all Sunday games for the weekend being cancelled and moving the bulk of the games up to Friday.
The possibility of cancellations in Texas and the flight troubles for the weekend forced Brownlee to make the decision to forego the trip, one which he and his team were disappointed with.
"Unfortunately, we cannot control the airlines or Mother Nature," said Brownlee. "We were all excited to get on the dirt and play this weekend instead of scrimmaging and practicing inside, but things just worked out that way and we will have to wait until next weekend to play our first game of the year."
Clarksville, Tenn., and the Austin Peay Tournament are next on the schedule for the Redbirds. ISU kicks off the weekend Friday, Feb. 24 against Dayton at 11:00 a.m., with games against Iowa and Austin Peay on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
