As President Larry Arnn drove his shovel into the ground alongside donors and coaches this past Friday, he signified not only the start of construction on Hillsdale’s new baseball stadium, but also a turning point for the Charger baseball program.
The new facilities, named the Glenda and Lenda Hill Stadium and Cleves Delp Field, will boast new lights, a press box, a turf field, and more comfortable seating for fans.
Athletic Director Don Brubacher said he cannot decide what part of the renovations he is most excited about.
“This will be such a huge upgrade for everyone involved, and today marks a day of anticipation looking forward to all that is to come,” Brubacher said.
To accommodate the new facilities, the current field will be moved about 100 feet to the north, away from the Sports Complex and Bierman Center, with the hope that construction will finish by next fall.
“This will really change the game for our program,” baseball head coach Tom Vessla said. “From improving recruiting to longer practices, I feel like we can make a huge step up in the next couple years.”
Many Division I programs in the Midwest have already changed to turf fields due to the unpredictable weather, but none in the G-MAC have made the leap. Without turf, rain wreaks havoc on schedules and game times, with pools of water staying on the field for multiple days and preventing play.
Junior catcher Jaekob Sallee said the new field’s design will allow players to practice more often, make ground balls easier to read, and increase the general speed of the game.
“Without the lights, games that went into extra innings would often have to be postponed until the next day, completely resetting all momentum and rhythm.”
Sallee said these postponements also caused double-headers, increasing the fatigue and risk of injury among the players. That all changes next fall with the completion of the new stadium.
One thing that will remain the same is how the wind off nearby buildings affects play.
When a ball is hit high enough to clear the top of the Sports Complex, the wind traveling across the roof of the building picks the ball up and carries it deep into the outfield, Sallee said. The conditions are comparable to Yankee stadium, known for its many fly balls that miraculously turn into home runs.
Regardless of the change surrounding the program, Charger baseball will still have a season to prepare for and play this spring. The team will enter its second year under Vessla after posting a 22-26 overall record last year. With only a handful of seniors who graduated this past spring, Vessla says the team is full of seasoned veterans bent on returning to winning ways.
