December 20, 2007

Opening Day is coming. And it’s February 6, 2008.

That’s the day that La Sierra University’s Mens’ Baseball team will play the team from Occidental College, opening their first season at their new home, a baseball field on campus.

Located alongside the entrance road that leads from Riverwalk Parkway up to the Sculpture Plaza, the new field is being constructed by Athletic Field Specialists of Redlands, California, and will cost roughly $250,000. All of the money for the field has been donated to support the construction. The Student Association of La Sierra University (SALSU) donated $50,000 of student funds to show their strong support for the new field’s construction.

The new field’s dimensions are 330 feet from home plate to the fence down the first and third baselines, and 380 feet to dead center field. The grass is a hybrid composite that will be green in both summer and winter, and angel brick dust covers the infield and the outfield warning track.

“Baseball has a long and intermittent history at La Sierra,” says Joel Haldeman, LSU athletic director. “ During the 1970s and 1980s, we would field a club team occasionally to play other club teams, typically from Pacific Union College or perhaps a group loosely affiliated with Walla Walla. Our varsity team started two years ago and will be entering its third season of competition this February. With our new home, we expect our program to start growing.”

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)