(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - “THE” Ohio State University has decided to play its baseball games on “THE” premiere surface in all of sports.
The Buckeyes will be playing on an all new AstroTurf® GameDay Grass™ 3D52 Extreme surface beginning in 2012.
Head Coach Greg Beals, in announcing the decision, said the two primary reasons were to be able to practice and play more often in more types of weather. Other factors influencing the decision were the playability and consistency of the artificial surface.
Beals said the Big Ten school has no practice field, so the game field at Bill Davis Stadium also served as the practice field.
“The new AstroTurf® field will allow us to get that much-needed practice time and be able to play in virtually any condition.”
Beals, who became the Buckeyes head coach last June, said he became an expert on artificial surfaces during the process. OSU facilities staff assisted in the process, but ultimately, Beals made the decision.
The coach and staff visited several fields made by different companies, but selected AstroTurf® after visiting the baseball field at Duke University and the infield practice surface at the Port Charlotte, Florida facility which serves as the Spring Training base for the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I noticed that when I talked to coaches who played on AstroTurf®, they talked about why they liked the brand. Coaches who had other types of fields liked those fields, but just talked about the field and not the company,” said Beals. “Rich Jordan and Matthew Boggs from AstroTurf® listened first and that was the key. They didn’t try to sell us a standard field. They built a field around our specific needs.”
The new surface will feature an all-new fiber combination called Extreme. The field will combine a monofilament Horseshoe fiber with a slit film product. The Horseshoe fiber has an Omega-shape, which is more resilient and bounces back, staying upright longer. It also reflects less light and heat. The slit film offers the ultimate in durability. The field features 52 ounces of fiber per square yard.
The field will also have a nylon RootZone™, a thatch layer which holds the sand and rubber infill in place for less splash and migration, making for a more consistent playing surface.
“The look and feel of grass, the encapsulation of the infill, and the speed and play provided by the fiber weight made this the best product for us,” said Beals.
The decision by the Buckeyes is part of a growing trend toward synthetic turf in baseball. OSU joins Duke, Wake Forest, Wichita State, and others with AstroTurf® fields. AstroTurf® is the Official Synthetic Turf of Major League Baseball and is used by the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Buckeyes were able to get the field, thanks in part to a generous donation from New York Yankees star Nick Swisher, a former Buckeye. While there, Swisher was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2000, won two Big Ten Championships, and was a two-time All Big Ten selection. He was the number one draft pick of the Oakland As. Swisher has been an All-Star and won a World Series in 2009 with the Yankees.
The new field will be called Nick Swisher Field.
“Nick is all about player development and guys getting on the field to make themselves better,” said Beals. “He is as excited as we are about the new AstroTurf® field.”
Swisher’s excitement, though, is surpassed by that of Beals. Beals, according to The Ohio State University athletic department, had a lifelong dream to coach at OSU, which bordered on passion.
He played four years at Kent State University and three years in the New York Mets farm system. He served as an assistant at Kent State for nine years and as head coach at Ball State for eight years, where he won 243 games, three Mid American Conference West Division titles, and one MAC tournament championship. Appointed to his current post in June 2010, he is described as a tireless recruiter and coach, focusing on player development.
“This field will help bring us the best players and will help us develop into the best team we can be,” said Beals. “We have big goals here and this is a major step in our reaching those goals.”
Other benefits of the field are environmental in nature. The field will save as much as 500,000-1,000,000 gallons of water each year and will eliminate maintenance costs and harmful effects of fertilizers, pesticides, and emissions.
Also, Universal Textile Technologies, which supplies the backing on AstroTurf® systems, has replaced much of the petroleum-based backing with backing utilizing polyols from soybeans, a rapidly renewable resource.
Construction on the new Nick Swisher Field will begin ¬¬¬in August.
Meanwhile, Beals is already preparing for the future by recruiting new players. Current players are preparing for next throughout the summer. Fourteen players from Ohio State are playing in collegiate wood bat leagues this summer.
“The level of commitment by Coach Beals and the folks at The Ohio State University is amazing,” said Bryan Peeples, President of AstroTurf®. “They have a commitment to being the best and we are committed to providing them with the best playing field available.”
About AstroTurf®
For many athletes and sport enthusiasts, the AstroTurf® brand has redefined the way the game is played. The company offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies, leveraging the industry’s first vertically integrated manufacturing system. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf®-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority and safety. Recent innovations from AstroTurf® include GameDay Grass™ 3D with RootZone®, a polyethylene/nylon hybrid system which most closely replicates natural grass; a non-chemical antimicrobial shield protecting against MRSA and other infectious bacteria; and AstroFlect™ Technology which significantly reduces turf surface temperatures. To learn more, visit www.astroturfusa.com.
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