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High school teams react after Principal Park closes following positive Covid-19 case

Two games were scheduled to be played on Thursday night.

Principal Park sat empty on Thursday night. It was not scheduled to.

"It uh, it stinks," said Jeremy Eldred, Head Coach for Gilbert High School baseball.

A night that should've included fans and games, had nothing.

"That wasn't a call we enjoyed making but it was a call we had to make," said Randy Wehofer, Vice President of the Iowa Cubs.

The call he referenced was a call to four different high school baseball head coaches to inform them their games would be canceled after a staff member at Principal Park tested positive for Covid-19.

"We try to avoid making these kinds of decisions but it's our job to keep the priority list in the best order, the best we can," Wehofer said.

Unfortunately for the boys of summer from Gilbert, a game at Principal Park would have been something special.

"It's certainly something special so we'd always be looking forward to a game at Principal. So yeah, it is sort of a game circled on the calendar," said Nick Chasey, a senior shortstop and pitcher for Gilbert.

"It's an unbelievable experience and I wanted our players to experience that this year. They were super excited," added Eldred.

Tonight would have been the fourth night of high school baseball at Principal Park this summer. The Iowa Cubs have made an effort to use their open schedule to give an opportunity to the younger players.

"It's great to see the excitement from 16 year old baseball players that have big hopes and dreams, to set foot on a field that feels a little more real," said Wehofer.

But from the empty dugouts, came the sign that real will have to wait.

"There's a lot more important things than today's baseball game in their life, as big of a moment as it would've been," said Wehofer.

Wehofer said they will look for days to reschedule Thursday's games.

In the meantime, every staff member at Principal Park is being tested and Wehofer did not yet rule out the possibility of playing the scheduled Southeast Polk vs. Valley game on Monday night.

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