Print
Falcon baseball has new home field
Posted on Thursday, January 28, 2010
By Jeff Kontz, sports editor
Friends University recently leased the West Side Athletic Field, 571 N. McLean Blvd., from the city of Wichita for a nominal fee.
This lease gives the Falcon baseball team first rights to the field for practices and the right to reserve game dates under the condition that the University maintains the field with its own funds and staff. Previously the Falcons had been sharing time at the Westurban Baseball Complex, which is nearly six miles from the Friends campus.
Coach Derek Leppert said the new field will be important for the current team but will also have a significant impact on recruiting.
“Kids really enjoy being able to take care of their own field,” he said. “It’s kind of the baseball culture at this level and high school. It will help a lot with local recruiting so those kids can buy into the fact that we are going to change some things over there and make it a little bit more of a college atmosphere.”
The University hopes that having a field closer to campus will encourage more students and faculty to attend the games and give the baseball team more support.
Within the next couple of weeks, the field will see its first addition with a top-of-the-line rolling batting cage.
Leppert hopes the field can be the best in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference but realizes that it may take several years to accomplish.
“Things have to come in small pieces. We can’t just get new dugouts up and new scoreboards right away. The little things that need to be taken care of the school will address.”
The Falcons will open the season on the road Feb. 9 against the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and will return Feb. 13 to play their first home game on the new field against Briar Cliff University.