Athletes and fans anticipating home games at the new Itchy Jones Stadium will have to wait two more weeks.

The Saluki baseball team will host Northern Illinois University this weekend, but games will take place at Rent One Park in Marion instead of Itchy Jones Stadium, which has been under construction since July.  Cold weather and precipitation prevented construction crews from finishing on time.

Friday and Saturday are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m., admission will be free on Sunday.

Mark Anderson, the superintendent of Fager-McGee Commercial Construction, said the field is ready to play on and the dugouts are complete, but if the team played Friday it would not be accessible for handicapped spectators.

“If (SIU) wanted to make it happen, they probably could,” Anderson said.  “It just won’t be picture perfect.”

Anderson said he expected to have all the spectator seating finished by Friday, but because of freezing temperatures from Wednesday to Friday, it would be a hard task.

The team’s next home series is against the University of Illinois March 14-16.  The grand opening will be March 13 at 3 p.m.

This is a developing story

 Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269