ELMIRA — Trailing first-place Batavia by 2 1/2 games entering Sunday’s schedule, the Jamestown Tarp Skunks saw their Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League doubleheader at Dunn Field canceled due to unplayable field conditions.

The Tarp Skunks left Jamestown at 9 a.m. for what was supposed to be a 2 p.m. Game 1 of their twinbill. By 3:15 p.m., they were back on the bus returning to Jamestown.

“The warning track was unplayable after about a 25-minute downpour. We waited until about 3 p.m. and at that point the umpires, both managers and their general manager decided that it would take several hours before we would be able to start a game. With rain in the forecast later in the evening, it was decided that in the best interest of player safety we cancel,” Jamestown manager Frank Jagoda III said via text message.

“We got 12 minutes away on the highway and it started to downpour again, and then again about 20 minutes later,” Jagoda added.

Late in the day, the Muckdogs then beat third-place Niagara Falls 5-4 to widen their lead to three games atop the West Division entering today’s action.

“Elmira, its staff and players made every effort to get these games in and the warning track just couldn’t get there,” Jagoda added.

Jamestown has six games remaining on its schedule as it stands now.

The Tarp Skunks will host 6:30 p.m. games against Batavia on Monday, Elmira on Wednesday and Niagara on Friday at Diethrick Park.

Jamestown will also go on the road to Geneva on Tuesday, Niagara on Saturday and close out its regular season at Batavia on Sunday.

The Tarp Skunks currently have an off day Thursday, but Elmira is scheduled to travel to Newark that evening.

The top four teams in the West Division qualify for the postseason and with a three-game lead over Elmira entering the final week, Jamestown is currently in a playoff spot. The top two seeds host first-round playoff games against the bottom two seeds, so the Tarp Skunks are in danger of falling into a road game with just a one-game lead over third-place Niagara Falls.

SATURDAY

TARP SKUNKS 17, NIAGARA 7

10-RUN RULE

JAMESTOWN — In the late innings, Saturday night, fireworks could be seen lighting up the distant night sky beyond the left-field fence at Diethrick Park.

That was only fitting, because it merely served as a metaphor for what Jamestown had been doing offensively all evening anyway.

The Tarp Skunks pounded out 17 hits and took advantage of 17 walks to rout Niagara 17-7 in a game halted in the bottom of the eighth inning via the 10-run rule.

Brady McGuire collected four hits; Ben Slanker (double, two RBIs), Nathan Borchardt (double, five RBIs) had three apiece; Blake Herman (four RBIs), Brady Marshall (RBI) and Joaquin Rodriguez-Costa (solo home run) all had two; and Dom Costello contributed a double for Jamestown.

Eddie Dolansky (2-0) worked two scoreless innings in relief for the win, which was a welcome salve after Jamestown suffered a tough loss at Niagara Falls on Friday.

The Ironbacks, who led 4-2 after two and a half innings, pounded out 12 hits, including two apiece by Andrew Bishop (triple, two RBIs), Marcus Butts and Matt Evans, and a solo home run by Bryce Bedrosian, but their pitching did them in as the Tarp Skunks scored in every inning but two.

Cadyn Wilson (0-1), one of three Niagara hurlers, took the loss.