Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Local businesses contribute to FAMU baseball field repairs

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- The improvements to Florida A&M’s Moore-Kittles Field keep coming – even though money is scarce for the university’s MEAC-champion baseball program.

Head coach Jamey Shouppe recently was dismayed to discover the field was unplayable due to a right-field drainage issue that would cost about $30,000 to fix. The Rattlers are scheduled to open the season at home on Feb. 19 against Marshall, but Shouppe said the money wasn’t in the budget to remedy the field.

He was told if he couldn’t find a way to fix the issue, he’d have to find somewhere else to play.

“With all of the things we have going on, with the wall and the netting and clubhouse, we found out the field is not playable because of drainage in the right field,” Shouppe said. “There wasn’t money in the budget available to spend getting the field ready.”

The solution came in the form of donations from several FAMU baseball benefactors. Shouppe said with their help, the cost of the project went from $30,000 to $6,000. The field will be ready for opening day, along with the new concrete wall and netting Shouppe is already having installed.

CONTINUE READING

No comments: