Brookhaven Academy was going to win the MAIS 2A State baseball championship on Thursday night, and Tri-County Academy knew it.

That’s why a game that was scheduled for 5 p.m. at Flora, with a possible game three to follow, has been rescheduled to this afternoon.

A video provided to The Daily Leader clearly shows a field that is 100-percent playable. It shows a field that the Cougars were going to win a state championship on Thursday night.

That’s just reality.

Tri-County Academy was going to have to win two games Thursday night, without their number-two pitcher. They had their ace available for the first game, and sure enough, he would have posed a threat to the Cougars.

It’s fair to wonder if Tri-County would have pushed the series to a third game on Thursday night, because they did the same thing just a week ago.

The reality is, however, that Brookhaven Academy was not going to lose a third game with the depth of their pitching staff. It wasn’t feasible. It wasn’t going to happen.  Brookhaven Academy was going to win the state championship.

That’s beside the point, though. The game should have been played on Thursday afternoon, as previously scheduled. That’s how baseball is supposed to be played.

In a game that’s so dependent on pitching, it’s unfair to move games around when there’s less than no reason to. It’s unfair that a team gets to reschedule a game — or games — in a state championship series and claim their field was unplayable, when it most certainly was not unplayable.

The Cougars will travel to Flora today, and for my money they’ll win a game and claim the state championship.

They’re the better team, and they showed that on Tuesday. They’ll have to show it today again if they want to avoid an off-season of “what ifs.”

But the truth of the matter is that it was ridiculous that the series wasn’t decided on Thursday.

It’s ridiculous that a team can move a series around to accommodate pitching needs.

It’s ridiculous that in a sport that is so pitching-dependent that teams are afforded the luxury of being able to do whatever they want.

It’s ridiculous that Brookhaven Academy didn’t win the state championship on Thursday.

Sports editor Collin Brister can be reached at 601-265-5306 or collin.brister@dailyleader.com.