SUNY Oneonta, Baseball and Softball Field Upgrades

MJ was responsible for design services to rehabilitate the baseball and softball fields on the SUNY Oneonta campus. Both fields had no drainage infrastructure to help dewater the fields, resulting in excessive standing water after heavy rains. Because there was no drainage, the water had to be removed by the grounds crew before scheduled events. There has also been some filling and settling over time on the baseball field that resulted in excessive variations in grade.

Most of the work focused on improving the field and site drainage, bullpens, and fencing. The existing grass playing surfaces were replaced with a new synthetic turf playing surface for both ball fields. This project used a combination of traditional design/bid/build for the civil works (grading, retaining walls, fencing, drainage, sub-base materials, field curb, batter’s eye system, etc.) and direct buy through a co-op program for the synthetic turf product, turf infill materials, turf maintenance equipment, and turf installation.

The fields were originally intended to be completed together, but were split apart to allow for the more urgent improvements to the baseball field be completed as soon as possible. The softball field’s turf also had markers inlaid into it to accommodate for quick set up of a portable pitching mound and turf bases used for the baseball summer camp since these elements have different locations than the field’s primary use of collegiate softball. The softball field also underwent a value-engineered phase to help reduce anticipated costs. The projects came in nearly $500,000 under budget.