With the 2010 regular season just under a month away, the finishing touches are almost set to make the Field at Panthersville one of the best in the league. The Georgia State baseball team has enjoyed watching progress on the field they call home for just over a month now with everything being done well in advance of the home opener on February 23rd.
"It is so uplifting to go out to the field everyday and see the work and progress that is being made," commented head coach Greg Frady. "It shows the commitment that this university has for the baseball program, but it would not be possible without the support of people like our Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick, sport supervisor and Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director James Greenwell, as well as our operations staff: John Portland, Paul Bender and Cliff Ford. Our organization is extremely grateful for all of their work."
The last pieces of sod were being placed in the outfield this week after a new drainage system was installed to solve many of the problems the outfield faced last season.
The infield has a completely new surface of clay that was also laser leveled, while the area around home plate and the pitchers mound were redone. The entire warning track was also redone to solve many of the drainage issues that plagued it last year.
The final project to be worked on before opening day will be to re-sod the area around the ticket booth and entrance to the field.
This marks another off-season that saw significant work done to the place that baseball has called home for several decades. Last season, a new, state-of-the-art scoreboard was installed over the right-field wall. New netting around the entire park has been added, along with expansion of the press box just a few years ago.
Georgia State will open the 2010 season at #7 Florida State on February 19th at 4 p.m. in Tallahassee. The home opener against USC-Upstate comes on February 23rd, also at 4 p.m.
