OLD ORCHARD BEACH — In what was a fitting episode to a trying season for the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide franchise, the team’s scheduled final home game was rained out on Thursday night. The Tide was supposed to host the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs at The Ballpark in what was the penultimate game of the season, but the skies above the field had other plans.

“All my players were amped to play today, to be honest with you. It’s unfortunate. I got here early ”¦ I was all amped to play,” said Tide manager Chris Torres. “I wanted to see what kind of turnout we were going to have for the last game. The last couple crowds have been good. They’ve been supporting us pretty good over the last couple weeks.”

The Tide was eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, so Thursday night was going to be the final time the team would have a chance to entertain The Ballpark crowd. Instead, the final impression the team will leave on the home fans this season was Tuesday night’s 9-6 loss to the Seacoast Mavericks.

Tuesday night’s contest might not only be the final home game of the season, but also the final home game of the current franchise, as the Raging Tide faces an uncertain future this offseason. The owners of the team, John and Pam Gallo, can’t shoulder the financial commitment of the franchise by themselves and are looking for other investors to keep the franchise intact.

Torres said he hopes that he and his team will be back at The Ballpark next summer.

“I hope to God somebody comes and steps up and says ”˜I’m going to help out,’ or ”˜I’m going to get this team,’ or ”˜I’m going to donate this money,’ because it’s really not for me. It’s for those 30 guys I have that want the dream of playing professional baseball,” said Torres.

Torres also said he would hate to lose the connection that he and the players have made with the community.

“I look back and I think about all the friendships that my boys made during camp, including myself, with these kids in the community that bleed teal and white and blue,” said Torres, noting that it would be hard to tell those kids next year that there is no more team.

Torres said he felt that his team had a good chance to win on Thursday night, as he had one of his hottest pitchers, Miguel Silva, slated to start, combined with the fact that his team had plenty of motivation to close out the home schedule on a positive note.

Instead, the Tide will look to close out the 2014 season on a high note on the road, as the team travels to Brockton for the season finale today at 7:05 p.m.

“We’re going to go to Brockton tomorrow, and we’re going to try to get that 20th W, and finish the season with our heads held high,” said Torres. “We don’t know what’s going to lie for the next year, but hopefully there’s baseball back here.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.