Phase two of a four-part plan to renovate baseball’s Scolinos Field is set to begin this summer. Phase two includes moving in the backstop, replacing external and internal fencing around the field and installing a field netting system.
“The scope is set, the timeline is set,” Athletic Director Brian Swanson said.
Last month, an addition was made to the scope of the project that included replacing three panels of fencing around the visitor’s bullpen and fencing by the left field foul pole near the stadium entrance for spectators.
“We have so much room back there, moving it up is going to eliminate some of that,” head coach Randy Betten said. “The one thing about college is the fan experience; when you move them closer to the field the fan experience is so great.”
The backstop will be moved in to 40 feet behind home plate which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association minimum distance.
The project is expected to cost around or over $400,000, pending the small changes to the scope as construction moves forward, according to Swanson. The field will be in use until June 30 with construction scheduled to begin July 1. Construction is scheduled to be completed at the end of August when the 2019-2020 school year begins.
“You always hope construction stays on schedule, but you don’t know about the elements,” Swanson said. “Hopefully we don’t have much rain in the summer.”
The scope of phase two has been discussed and planned with the department, the architect, facilities management and Betten. Along with phase two, the department is hoping to resod the grass on the field concurrently with the rest of the renovations. However, the focus is on phase two because of all the steps needed to get that project started.
“It should hopefully happen at the same time,” Swanson said. “We haven’t defined the scope of all of that work at this point in time.”
Potential vendors met with department officials on April 2 and had until April 24 to submit bids to take on the project. Project Manager Jaime Landman from Facilities Design & Construction is facilitating the project for the department, working with the architect to put into practice what the department wants from the project, and answering any questions potential vendors may have about the scope of the project.
Once all the bids have been collected, university procurement (the purchasing branch of the school) makes the decision to award the construction contract. At that point, the final cost of the project will be set. As of publication date, the awarding of the contract has not been announced.
On April 2, a procurement officer went over the bid and determined the qualifications required of a vendor in order to take the project. These qualifications are in place because the field is a state facility.
The 2020 California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships will be held at Cal Poly Pomona next year, meaning there is more of an urgency to complete both the work being done for phase two as well as the resodding of the field. Chris Asa was hired by the athletic department as an associate athletic director for external relations. He is in contact with previous and prospective donors on a consistent basis. Asa estimated that about 50 to 75 people made some contribution to phase two.
“I’ve got a list of people who we believe are prospects to give to various projects,” Asa said. “Scolinos isn’t the only thing we’re trying to raise money for.”
Depending on the final cost of phase two, the department could use money all from the Scolinos fund, other enhancement accounts or go back to donors to make up the difference.
“There’s a number of people who are like ‘What’s the number?’ and we don’t know exactly what the number is, but we’ll know pretty soon,” Swanson said. “We may not have a necessity to go into the other funds if we have some people who are just waiting to see what that might be.”
Despite phase two not being complete, Asa is already in contact with potential donors for phase three and he hopes to raise the money necessary over the next 18 months.
Once construction is complete, the department will return to the general scope already planned out for phase three and specify the changes that will be included. Some changes that were planned in later phases were moved up because of a donor stepping forward with a large donation. The new scoreboard was initially scheduled to be included in phase four but ended up being complete in phase one thanks to a donation.
Phases three and four are set to include permanent bleachers, a press box, new batting cages, bullpens, permanent restrooms, concessions and a team room.