(MERION STATION, Pennsylvania) - Any team, no matter what sport, will tell you how important home field advantage can be. The Saint Joseph’s University Hawks baseball team has not known that feeling in 53 years.
Today, all that changes.
With a new stadium on campus and a state-of-the-art AstroTurf baseball field, the Hawks will play their first home game on campus since 1958.
"This is a truly exciting time for our program," said head coach Fritz Hamburg. "The student-athletes and coaching staff are eager to play in our new park and we are honored to bring intercollegiate varsity baseball back to Hawk Hill."
Hamburg sees the new facility as an advantage, both on and off the field, because student athletes have more time to train and to study since they will be eliminating travel time to practice and games.
"The team can get on the field anytime they want to now because we will not be sharing it with one or two other teams," Hamburg said. "Our players will finally be able to have a true Division I program experience. I have the utmost respect and credit for those who came through this program due to the sacrifices that they were forced to endure."
“We’re proud to have been a part of this project,” said Dan Driscoll, AstroTurf Regional Sales Manager. “This is a facility the St. Joseph’s community can be proud of for years to come and their student athletes will be playing on a world-class surface.”
For 20 years, the Hawks played at Latshaw-McCarthy field in Norristown. For part of 2009 and all of 2010-11, they played their home games at Campbell’s Field in Camden, New Jersey. The new field sits on the property formerly utilized by Episcopal Academy.
"Having this field on campus has been a dream for countless years," Smithson said. "We're thrilled that our players will have the full experience of having their fellow students and fans right here with them, cheering them on to success."
Hamburg also said that playing on a field on campus is huge for recruiting purposes.
The new AstroTurf field features GameDay Grass 3D60H in the grass areas. The field will feature the revolutionary Horseshoe fiber. This fiber is enjoying unprecedented success in the sports field marketplace, due to factors such as its unique shape. The fiber is a horseshoe shape with two end columns with a thicker diameter. The design imparts mechanical memory so that the fiber remains upright longer, unlike other fields whose fibers quickly flatten and split or shred at the spine. The Horseshoe fiber continues to spring back to its original configuration, even after years of heavy foot traffic or exposure to ultra-violet radiation.
The field also has a face weight of 60 ounces of fiber per square yard, one of the highest in the industry. This adds to the durability provided by the fiber shape.
In extensive testing, the Horseshoe fiber performs most like natural grass from ball roll, to slide resistance, to the biomechanical function of cleats penetrating and releasing properly. The Horseshoe fiber’s shape also allows it to reflect light and heat away from the surface.
The field will also have a RootZone, which is 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 areas which are typically dirt will feature another AstroTurf fiber designed specifically to more closely replicate the performance attributes of dirt. The warning track will feature AstroTurf PureGrass.
The decision by the Hawks is part of a growing trend toward synthetic turf in baseball. St. Joseph’s joins Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Wichita State, Kansas, Kansas State, Ohio 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 facility also features a new clubhouse, batting cages, and elevated bullpens with benches and phones connected to the dugouts.
The team held their first practice on the field yesterday and the Hawks will play 26 of their 54 scheduled games on the AstroTurf surface this season. The first game is today, against non-conference opponent Iona. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. Prior to the game, the first pitch will be thrown out by St. Joseph’s University Interim President John Smithson, a 1968 graduate and St. Joseph’s Baseball Hall of Famer. He will throw the ceremonial first pitch to his catcher Ed Martini.
You can catch all the action on live streaming video here:
http://www.sjuhawks.com/allaccess/?media=308241
