Troy baseball stadium gets a facelift

TROY — When Bobby Pierce stands at the top of the dugout and looks around, the sixth-year Troy head coach sees all the things that now make Riddle-Pace Field more legitimate.

No longer are looping liners to right field home runs. A 27-foot wall with a big scoreboard means you’ve got to get some lift on the ball to hit it out.

No longer are the dimensions too small for NCAA Regional hosting standards. Moving home plate up eight feet, left field back to 340 feet and center back to 400 feet solved that problem.

No longer will there be drainage problems after rainfall or players racing to cover the field at the start of a storm. The whole field, except for the pitcher’s mound and warning track, is covered with artificial surface.

“They’re calling this brown, ‘Troy brown,’” Pierce said of the basepaths, which are cut a half-inch lower than the green surface.

No longer will the lighting be below par. Musco Sports Lighting, “about the best money can buy,” Pierce said, is now lighting up the field.

“When you test the lighting, it’s almost double what our existing lights were,” Pierce said. “We shouldn’t have any issues with lights for the next 25 years.”

And in late March, no longer will players have to walk to Tine Davis Fieldhouse to change. Forty-two major league-size lockers will be at their disposal as part of a two-story building that houses coaches offices, training rooms, video rooms and a players’ lounge.

That’s what $4.7 million in renovation will get you. And as Pierce hopes, it should  put Troy’s baseball facility on the national map since the team, coming off two straight NCAA Regional appearances, is already there.

“Arguably you could say it takes us to No. 1 in the conference,” Pierce said. “Depending on whose opinion it is, it takes us to one of the top in the southeast.

“My opinion is that it’s really high on the scale.”

The start

Pierce said talks for stadium expansion started back when he interviewed for the Troy job in 2002. Back then, it centered on building just a clubhouse and expanding the home dugout.

“I always said that if I planned anything like this, the No. 1 thing for me was the size of the dugout,” Pierce said. “Most dugouts are too small.”

Soon after, plans for a new wall, sound system and playing surface, among other things, came into play. Several donors stepped up, as well as Troy University, and it turned into a $4.7 million project.

On Feb. 22 for the season opener against Rhode Island, it will be ready for play. It will be far from the finished product, as the clubhouse won’t be complete until late March and the padding on the left field wall won’t be up for another week.

Fans will still see the remnants of ongoing construction, but once they step inside, they’ll see the beauty that Riddle-Pace Field has truly become.

“A lot of times coaches and players get impatient with construction,” Pierce said. “I look at it like it’s a miracle that it’s this close.”

The adjustments

The biggest difference right now for Trojan players is the size of the field. Three Troy pitchers gave up double-digit home runs last year, most of which came at home, where it didn’t take much for a player to hit a fly ball that went 300 feet and cleared an 8-foot wall.

Now, it’s 310 feet with a 27-foot wall. As it stretches into the power alley, the scoreboard pokes up and makes it a 30-foot wall.

“There’s a lot of balls that have been hit this weekend that stayed in that were usually home runs,” pitcher Steven Morelock said. “A little line drive would go over.

“I think everybody likes it. Everybody’s pretty happy with moving it back. I don’t know about the hitters, though.”

Some had reservations about the new turf, but with the number of people that use it — several summer tournaments are held at Riddle-Pace Field — artificial surface was the best way to go.

“I’m a dirt-grass guy,” Pierce said. “I like mowing it and I like raking it. For what we need to do at Troy, this was the right thing.”

The good thing? There are no bad hops. Some concerns? You better start your slide into the bases earlier than normal.

The future

With the completion of the facility, it would put Troy in position to host NCAA Regional Tournaments should it boast the necessary records. The 2009 Sun Belt Tournament will be in Troy.

Seating capacity could be addressed later. Last year’s home game against Auburn packed in 2,385 fans, but fans, especially students, can enjoy Tailgate Terrace (down the third-base line) when it’s complete.

“My dreams and hopes are that students will take over tailgate terrace,” Pierce said.