Around 9 a.m. Wednesday, baseball coaches around Mississippi started getting word that the Mid-Mississippi Classic had been canceled because of an impending ice storm.

By mid-afternoon, following a round of baseball speed dating, most of the tournament’s jilted participants had found new playing partners, reconfigured their schedules, and wound up happy.

Warren County’s Mid-Mississippi participants, Vicksburg High and Warren Central, were especially delighted. They’ll play two games instead of three this weekend, but closer to home and with a more favorable schedule.

Vicksburg will play a road game at Madison Central Friday at 6 p.m., then go to Warren Central to face Lewisburg on Saturday morning. WC will play a split doubleheader Saturday at home against Lewisburg and Central Private. All five schools had been scheduled to play in the Mid-Mississippi Classic, an annual 27-team tournament played at five sites around the Jackson metro area.

“All the northern (Mississippi) teams don’t have anywhere to play and haven’t played in two weeks. So it wasn’t tough to find a match,” Warren Central coach Conner Douglas said.

Vicksburg coach Derrick DeWald said things worked out perfectly for his team from both a scheduling and tactical standpoint. The Gators, like Warren Central, will play in the Ridgeland spring break tournament beginning on Monday.

“It worked out in our favor. We have prom Saturday night, and I was wondering what I was going to do with that 4:30 game” at the Mid-Mississippi Classic, DeWald said. “We had six games in seven days, and that was going to be rough on our pitching. Playing five in six is a little easier for everybody.”

Whether it’s in a tournament or just a normal one-off game, the goals for the next week remained the same for both programs — to get as many game reps as possible in a condensed timeframe.

Today’s winter storm was the latest in a series of them that has put a dent on practice time the past few weeks. Vicksburg will now play five games in a six-day span, and Warren Central has five in four days.

It’s a tough gauntlet to run, but one Douglas said is ultimately beneficial for everyone.

“That’s why we play these games early, because we still don’t know that formula yet. We’re going to continue to move people in and out of the lineup until we find that formula that works for us,” Douglas said. “Playing that many games before we go into district, that’s where we figure it out.”

The Vikings and Gators weren’t the only teams adjusting their schedules to deal with the weather.

Porters Chapel Academy’s home game tonight against Adams County Christian was canceled and will not be made up, coach Wade Patrick said. A Friday home game against the Jackson Victors, a home school team, is also in doubt.

PCA is scheduled to play in the Benton Academy tournament beginning on Monday.

St. Aloysius hasn’t postponed or canceled any games, but might have to move Friday’s home opener against Greenville-St. Joseph. St. Al coach Steve Hancock said the game will likely be moved from Bazinsky Field to Hinds Community College in Raymond, although the details were still being ironed out.

If the Flashes are able to play on Friday, it’ll be the start of a stretch of seven games in six days. They’re scheduled to play a doubleheader Saturday at Stringer against Presbyterian Christian and Greene County, then will head to Gulf Shores, Ala., for a tournament there.

Hancock said his team’s busy schedule would give his pitching staff, most of which was attached to the basketball team until right before opening weekend, a chance to work its way into shape.

“All five of my basketball guys are pitchers. So this is an opportunity for them to get their feet wet. They’ll be able to have some bullpens by that time, and I can see how they can compete,” Hancock said.

While the Flashes have a daunting schedule over the next week, they at least have a warm beachside destination.

Hancock said the invitation to play in Gulf Shores came from a desire to play different teams and give his squad a bit of a treat. In Gulf Shores, the Flashes will play Class 4A Tuscaloosa Holt out of Alabama and Class 6A Wilson Central from Tennessee, in addition to Madison-Ridgeland Academy and Class 2A Hatley from Mississippi.

“We get a vacation out of it. The parents are going. I’m real excited about it. We can’t go down there and lay around on the beach for four days, but they’ll have plenty of time outside of baseball to enjoy themselves with their families,” Hancock said. “So many times in baseball, baseball takes over spring break and everything the family’s doing. This allows them to do a little something with the kids.”

Updated schedule

Friday

6 p.m. – Vicksburg at Madison Central

7 p.m. – Greenville-St. Joe vs. St. Aloysius, at Hinds CC

Saturday

11 a.m. – Vicksburg vs. Lewisburg, at Warren Central

1:30 p.m. – Lewisburg at Warren Central

4:30 p.m. – Central Private at Warren Central