Texas trip - March 4-11

[VULB#62]

They just showed Emory G Bauer field covered in snow from a pic on Monday,

Is there any hope the field will be ready by this weekend?

We will definitely have to have a Plan B of some kind.  Our home schedule is set up to end in early May, meaning lots of home series in the early part of the year.  We'll need two weeks of weather in the mid 60s to get the field ready, IMO.  The turf field would be great, but if there's a plan to move EGB to campus in the next decade, I'm not sure that will happen short of one of you guys winning the Powerball and naming a stadium after yourselves. Speaking of, construction has been slowed at the new Curtis Granderson Stadium at UIC due to weather.  They are close, but not sure when the new field there will be ready to go.  Granderson put $5M of his money into the project, and it will be far and away the nicest facility in the HL when it opens up.  Should be soon.

I asked ML about that move a short time ago and it came down to:  (1) the move is on the 30 year plan; (2) much else needs to be moved (and two buildings demolished) first before that will happen, and (3) he doesn't expect that to happen on his watch, but maybe the next AD's.

With that in mind, a Field Turf installation at Em Bauer as the interim solution (next 10 years?) makes better sense to me.  A turf field could be plowed by now and the remaining layer would have melted off by the end of the week.  But with all the snow and possibly a high water table as a result, the current field could be soggy for weeks after the snow melts.

[valpotx]

Field Turf can be pretty expensive though, right?  It would be great to have such a thing to potentially play more home games, as we usually get 16-18 out of 60 games each season at EGB.  That puts you at a significant disadvantage versus warm weather teams, in addition to the lack of being able to practice outside for months before the season starts.  Groundballs on a gym floor just aren't the same lol. 

[valporun]

What are the possibilities of the AD and baseball coach talking with the groundskeeper for the Gary Railcats coming with their tarp to help create a dome to help melt the snow a little quicker, with a possibility of getting the outfield and warning track dried out quickly too? I did see on milb.com that the Toledo Mud Hens have started this process, and have heard that the team in Beloit, WI might be considering this method as well. I mean if it can be done financially, and do something about independently contracting the Gary groundskeeper, this could get the field playable in a couple of weeks, couldn't it?

[valpotx]

Game in San Antonio is canceled today, leaving us at 7-7 heading into conference!  It would have been our first above .500 record since 1997 in non-conference (before any conference games started) had we won today.  We still have a chance to have an above .500 record in overall non-conference games, as there are always several played during the conference season.

[talksalot]

For those not in the Valpo area... we are in a WINTER STORM WARNING with something like 6" expected tonight (some are saying 8") with high winds through noon tomorrow.  There is no way we play at home this weekend.   I'm just thinking about those poor softball players and Jordan Stevens... suffering through that horrible Oahu weather.... what a shame.