Like Guns ’N Roses said, “It’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain.” But as NIU baseball and tennis found out Tuesday, it’s even harder to play a game in April showers.

Persistent afternoon rain forced the cancellation of the NIU baseball game at Illinois State and the women’s tennis home match versus DePaul.

While a makeup date for baseball has not been announced, the women’s tennis match will not be rescheduled due to the proximity of the MAC tournament.

“It’s so late in the year, it’s almost impossible to find a time and place for both teams to reschedule,” NIU tennis coach Pontus Hiort said. “You’d always like to play a good team like DePaul because it’s good experience, but we’ll just have to deal with it, and we got an extra day of practice.”

In case of bad weather in baseball, the home team coach decides whether the field is playable prior to the start of a game, head coach Ed Mathey said. But once the game begins, it is up to the umpires.

“I know it’s good for the grass,” Mathey joked. “It’s always good to have a day to focus on certain aspects that we need to improve. But on the downside, we may lose a game off our schedule.”

In order to reschedule the game, both coaches must find an available date to play on and then clear all travel and expenses with their athletic departments.

Freshman left-hander Matt Jernstad remains the starting pitcher for NIU in today’s game at Iowa. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The next action for NIU women’s tennis (5-7 overall, 1-4 MAC) will be a pair of home matches versus Ball State and Bowling Green this weekend. The Huskies will take on the Cardinals (13-5, 3-2) at 1 p.m. Friday at the West Campus Courts and wrap-up against the Falcons (11-6, 3-2) on Saturday at the same time and location.

Note: The men’s tennis team will now play a home match today with Chicago State at the West Campus Courts by Stevenson at 3 p.m.