Field maintenance a tall task for Twin Counties baseball programs
By FOSTER LANDER ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Trade Faith Christian's sparse seating area and press box for a few dozen thousand seats and move the dark blue fences back a few dozen feet, and the Patriots might as well be playing on any of the MLB spring training stadiums in balmy Florida or Arizona.
It's striking, really, especially for a first-time visitor.
Surrounded on three sides by drab, gray school buildings, woods, and an equally well-maintained soccer field, Faith Christian's diamond is an oasis of sorts, a deep green color usually reserved for golf courses and artificial turf.
It would be striking under any circumstances, but even more so now after a snow-filled month of February - usually when work on the field begins in earnest.
One visiting team, to remain nameless, arrived earlier this month to the lush field, looking incredulously at the grass as if it was their first sight of the Atlantic Ocean.
Faith Christian coach Greg Clifton is, for the most part, a one-man landscaping crew, with help from assistant coach Tom Jones, who turned Clifton on to field maintenance when the two coached at Northern Nash.
When Clifton and Jones moved to Faith Christian, the field was in disrepair, with grass rising past the ankles and swatches of grass covering the infield.
Their first task: Get the grass down to where it could be managed easily and replaced eventually.
By no means did a dark green field appear overnight, but Clifton is lucky - he owns a janitorial company that allows him large chunks of time to work on the field, time when coaches who teach are in class.
"I've given up all my hobbies - this is my hobby," Clifton said. "I've pretty much given up golf. I used to play a lot with (Rocky Mount Academy baseball) coach (Pat) Smith, but it takes so long to play and all, I'd rather be out here. It don't cost me a penny to come out here, just my time."
Back to the most important question of all: how, exactly, is Faith Christian's field so obscenely green?
Aubrey McDaniel, who manages the Hickory Meadows Golf Club in Whitakers, overseeds the grass twice a year.
As soon as the Patriots' season ends this spring, McDaniel will seed Bermuda grass, which loves heat and humidity and is common on golf courses.
Before next season rolls around, a hardy winter rye grass goes in.
The secret to the green, though?
Iron supplements, which help give the field its dark, blue-green coloration.
Last summer, Clifton and a contractor removed 30 tons of dirt from the misshapen infield and poured 50 tons of sand over that same area.
With the help of a laser level set on top of the pitching mound, the sand then was moved around into a cone shape so that water would drain past first and third base.
The proof of Clifton and Jones' work is in the reaction from opposing coaches and teams.
"I've never had a field look like this," Clifton said. "It's just about putting the time into it. You're out here working, thinking about the teams you're playing that week, moves you need to make. I solve all the world's problems out here, man."
At a private school like Faith Christian, Clifton enjoys a built-in advantage in that he's not required to teach at the school in order to be a full-time coach.
His business partner handles many of the day-to-day operations, leaving Clifton free to spend mornings, early afternoons, and weekends working on the facility.
Others aren't so fortunate.
Prior to a game against South Johnston last week, Northern Nash coach Leonard Allen was running around, covered head-to-toe in mud just minutes before a first pitch that had been moved back nearly three hours so that the field could dry.
Allen teaches three math classes per day at Northern Nash, so it's not as if he can take his classes outside and leave them to their own devices while he preps the field.
One of the Knights' junior varsity coaches uses a planning period in the morning to help out, but Allen usually only has from 1 p.m. until 4 or 6 p.m. to do all the tedious, time-consuming work required.
"It is what it is," Allen said. "We get outside when we can, but there's only so much we can do."
Even after Allen spent more than five hours trying to dry out the Northern Nash diamond before what would be a 12-5 loss to South Johnston, the Knights' field is built so that runoff rainwater pools behind the infield.
An inch-deep puddle in shallow right field caused problems for infielders and outfielders alike that night.
"That's really been the story of the year, just trying to get games in and not lose them," Allen said. "We might not have played that night if we hadn't already lost a few games."
Warmer temperatures have helped dry out fields in the Twin Counties recently, but rain and a lack of direct sunlight slowed the drying-out process considerably.
Northern Nash has the same idea that Clifton and Faith Christian did - Allen plans to have the infield laser-leveled so that the area will hold less water.
Rocky Mount High's new(er) baseball stadium has notoriously bad drainage.
Nash Central, on the other hand, managed to play a game against Eastern Wayne last week despite a persistent rain before, during, and after the Bulldogs' mercy-rule loss.
With conference play underway this week for area schools, there's only so much most coaches - already pressed for time and energy - can do to improve the grass on their fields, which was rendered the color of beige carpet in a cheap apartment by winter cold and snow.
Sometimes, mother nature, baseball gods included, just has other plans.
Foster Lander can be reached at 407-9951 or flander
By FOSTER LANDER ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Trade Faith Christian's sparse seating area and press box for a few dozen thousand seats and move the dark blue fences back a few dozen feet, and the Patriots might as well be playing on any of the MLB spring training stadiums in balmy Florida or Arizona.
It's striking, really, especially for a first-time visitor.
Surrounded on three sides by drab, gray school buildings, woods, and an equally well-maintained soccer field, Faith Christian's diamond is an oasis of sorts, a deep green color usually reserved for golf courses and artificial turf.
It would be striking under any circumstances, but even more so now after a snow-filled month of February - usually when work on the field begins in earnest.
One visiting team, to remain nameless, arrived earlier this month to the lush field, looking incredulously at the grass as if it was their first sight of the Atlantic Ocean.
Faith Christian coach Greg Clifton is, for the most part, a one-man landscaping crew, with help from assistant coach Tom Jones, who turned Clifton on to field maintenance when the two coached at Northern Nash.
When Clifton and Jones moved to Faith Christian, the field was in disrepair, with grass rising past the ankles and swatches of grass covering the infield.
Their first task: Get the grass down to where it could be managed easily and replaced eventually.
By no means did a dark green field appear overnight, but Clifton is lucky - he owns a janitorial company that allows him large chunks of time to work on the field, time when coaches who teach are in class.
"I've given up all my hobbies - this is my hobby," Clifton said. "I've pretty much given up golf. I used to play a lot with (Rocky Mount Academy baseball) coach (Pat) Smith, but it takes so long to play and all, I'd rather be out here. It don't cost me a penny to come out here, just my time."
Back to the most important question of all: how, exactly, is Faith Christian's field so obscenely green?
Aubrey McDaniel, who manages the Hickory Meadows Golf Club in Whitakers, overseeds the grass twice a year.
As soon as the Patriots' season ends this spring, McDaniel will seed Bermuda grass, which loves heat and humidity and is common on golf courses.
Before next season rolls around, a hardy winter rye grass goes in.
The secret to the green, though?
Iron supplements, which help give the field its dark, blue-green coloration.
Last summer, Clifton and a contractor removed 30 tons of dirt from the misshapen infield and poured 50 tons of sand over that same area.
With the help of a laser level set on top of the pitching mound, the sand then was moved around into a cone shape so that water would drain past first and third base.
The proof of Clifton and Jones' work is in the reaction from opposing coaches and teams.
"I've never had a field look like this," Clifton said. "It's just about putting the time into it. You're out here working, thinking about the teams you're playing that week, moves you need to make. I solve all the world's problems out here, man."
At a private school like Faith Christian, Clifton enjoys a built-in advantage in that he's not required to teach at the school in order to be a full-time coach.
His business partner handles many of the day-to-day operations, leaving Clifton free to spend mornings, early afternoons, and weekends working on the facility.
Others aren't so fortunate.
Prior to a game against South Johnston last week, Northern Nash coach Leonard Allen was running around, covered head-to-toe in mud just minutes before a first pitch that had been moved back nearly three hours so that the field could dry.
Allen teaches three math classes per day at Northern Nash, so it's not as if he can take his classes outside and leave them to their own devices while he preps the field.
One of the Knights' junior varsity coaches uses a planning period in the morning to help out, but Allen usually only has from 1 p.m. until 4 or 6 p.m. to do all the tedious, time-consuming work required.
"It is what it is," Allen said. "We get outside when we can, but there's only so much we can do."
Even after Allen spent more than five hours trying to dry out the Northern Nash diamond before what would be a 12-5 loss to South Johnston, the Knights' field is built so that runoff rainwater pools behind the infield.
An inch-deep puddle in shallow right field caused problems for infielders and outfielders alike that night.
"That's really been the story of the year, just trying to get games in and not lose them," Allen said. "We might not have played that night if we hadn't already lost a few games."
Warmer temperatures have helped dry out fields in the Twin Counties recently, but rain and a lack of direct sunlight slowed the drying-out process considerably.
Northern Nash has the same idea that Clifton and Faith Christian did - Allen plans to have the infield laser-leveled so that the area will hold less water.
Rocky Mount High's new(er) baseball stadium has notoriously bad drainage.
Nash Central, on the other hand, managed to play a game against Eastern Wayne last week despite a persistent rain before, during, and after the Bulldogs' mercy-rule loss.
With conference play underway this week for area schools, there's only so much most coaches - already pressed for time and energy - can do to improve the grass on their fields, which was rendered the color of beige carpet in a cheap apartment by winter cold and snow.
Sometimes, mother nature, baseball gods included, just has other plans.
Foster Lander can be reached at 407-9951 or flander
